Snow Much Fun

"Don't forget your hat, my dear!" Carlotta called after a certain former mermaid trying to make her escape.

With a long exasperated sigh, she turned on her heels back towards Carlotta. Ariel allowed her to properly place the hat over her fiery red hair. "I hate hats," she frowned." My hair gets frizzy enough in the winter and hats just mess it up more."

"But you know that Eric doesn't care one bit what your hair looks like."

Ariel nodded. "Yes, yes. I know. Bye, Carlotta!" she said as she ran off to find Eric.

She found him down by the door buttoning up his coat. Max laid at his feet, waiting patiently. He looked up, his ears perked up once he heard her light footsteps coming down the hall.

Eric looked up and smiled at her, following Max over to greet her. "You look pretty," he commented, noting how her light blue coat complimented her eyes.

Ariel blushed as she always did when he complimented her. "Thank you." She herself began to take notice that he looked quite dashing with his old coat and that boyish smile. Although, she always thought that.

"Are you ready?" he asked, giving her his arm. She took it with a grateful smile as they walked outside into the cold, winter air.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. It wasn't long until they were outside and the snow began crunching beneath her winter boots. She smiled at the sound and the sight of snow. Ariel had quickly fallen in love with it. In what most people thought of as a mess, she found absolute joy.

Eric reached down to touch some snow. "Yep, this is perfect snow to build a snowman."

"You mean that it's not dry snow this time? It's wet snow?" she asked. Eric had explained to her during her first snowfall how wet snow was good for snowmen and snowball fights, while dry snow usually fell apart. However, she never really understood the concept of dry snow. All snow would leave her returning inside with wet mittens and clothes. Nevertheless, Ariel had been eager to build her first snowman, but all of the snow they had received was either too dry or there just wasn't enough.

He nodded his head. "I'll teach you how to make one. It's much different than making a sand castle."

"Okay," Ariel agreed, eager to begin. She took a moment to watch Max jump and run around in the snow. She smiled and concluded that he must have loved it even more that her.

"Basically, all we have to do is make really big snowballs. To do so, you make one and then roll it in the snow. Since this is a wet snow, it will stick to the snowball making it bigger and bigger until we have the size we need," Eric explained.

"That's easy," Ariel declared as she began forming a snowball. Eric did as well. After forming his snowball in his hand, he looked at it and then at his young wife. A mischievous smile formed on his face.

But before Eric had the chance to do anything, Ariel looked up at him as well. "No!" she scolded him. "We are not having a snowball fight now. I am not getting all wet after being out here for just a few minutes because. If we get too wet and cold, then we have to go in sooner."

"Okay," Eric sighed, but he still had on a smile. Ariel was a smart one, always reasoning things out. "Let's start the snowman."

Ariel watched as Eric placed his snowball in the snow and began rolling it around. She gasped as she saw its size grow bigger and bigger. It did work! She then placed hers down and did the same.

"I'll make the bottom and you start on the middle," Eric suggested. "Remember, we need the middle to be smaller than the bottom."

"Yesterday I found a drawing of a snowman," Ariel told him. "I know just what one looks like!" Eric smiled. She was always one step ahead when it came to learning something new.

It wasn't long until both of their snowballs became a decent size. Ariel noted that hers grew heavier and heavier with each push and was glad that Eric was in charge of the larger one.

"I think these are good sizes. I just want to get mine over there," he pointed towards the perfect spot to construct the snowman. "Brings yours over too so I can easily lift it on."

Ariel nodded and followed Eric over. Her mittens were already very wet from the snow and her hands were growing cold, but she didn't mind. This was going to be a perfect snowman!

Eric finally stopped pushing the bottom piece and waited for Ariel to join him. He admired the determination on her face, which was one of his favorite qualities of her. When Ariel was determined to do something, she absolutely was going to get it done, whether it was something as small as building a snowman or something as big as saving her lover from drowning.

"Good job!" he exclaimed as she stopped in front of him. "Help me smooth the top of the so the middle can sit right on top."

Ariel eagerly agreed and began to help pat the snow down into a flat surface.

"That should be good. I'm going to lift the middle piece on now," Eric said.

Ariel stood out of his way, ready to see their snowman come together. Watching in awe, she was amazed when he managed to lift up the massive snowball and place it on top of the other with just a little trouble.

"Thank you!" she kissed his cheek. "Should I make the head now?"

Eric nodded and so she promptly began, just like he had taught her minutes ago. It didn't take very long for the head to form, so once she was done with the much smaller piece, she picked it up herself and placed in on the very top, smiling once she was done her job.

"Looks good," Eric comments. "We should round it out." He began to smooth out an excess amount of snow on one side and Ariel followed pursuit.

It eventually took its proper snowman shape, but she took notice that it was missing a lot. "We need to decorate it, Eric."

"You're right! I'll run back in and grab a scarf and hat for it and you can look around for some small rocks and sticks. Sound okay?"

Ariel nodded, already off on her mission.

Eric turned to go in search of his materials. "Keep an eye on Ariel, Max," he patted the dog's head, who agreed with a simple bark.

Just eight minutes later did they regroup. "Are these sticks okay? Max helped me find them," Ariel asked. "They're for his arms, right?"

"They're the perfect size. And the rocks are for his eyes, mouth, and buttons. I even grabbed a carrot for his nose," he told her and then they began giving the snowman his features.

Finally, with the top hat placed on his head, the snowman was complete. The couple took a step back to admire their work.

"It's lovely," Ariel commented. "But won't it melt with the rest of the snow?"

"Yeah, it will, but we can always try and make another one another time."

Shivering, Ariel replied, "I would like that."

"Come on. I'm cold too. Let's get inside," Eric said, but before heading in he needed to call Max over, and turning around gave Ariel the perfect opportunity.

She hit him right on the back of his neck with a snowball. The snow ran down into his coat.

"Hey!" he exclaimed. "You were the one who didn't want a snowball fight."

Ariel laughed. "Yeah, but since we're going in, I might as well get all wet. A snowball fight is fair game now."

"Oh," Eric acknowledged, scooping up some snow. "It that how it works?"

She nodded her head slowly, cautiously taking a step back as he crept closer to her and she shrieked as she narrowly dodged a snowball and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her, but Eric trailed close behind her.