Dear Uday,

Thank you for your letter. I enjoyed reading about your friends and activities. You asked  me if it snowed in Canada at this time of the year.  You wanted to know what snow looked, smelled and tasted like.  I will try to answer your questions about snow and tell you a little bit about life in Canada during winter, especially for young children like you.

Though the official winter season is between December and March, it starts looking and feeling like winter from early November onwards when trees and bushes start shedding their leaves and stand all bare branched.  Trees like the Pine and Spruce do not lose their needle like leaves in winter and that is why we call them evergreen trees. Those are the trees that are used as christmas trees. In winter sun rises late and sets early, so we have shorter days and longer nights.  We start getting snow as early as November.  

Though it is cold in winter, it does not snow all the time, just as it does not rain all the time during the rainy season.  Most days it is bright and sunny but  some days the sky will be grey and still and before you even notice, it starts snowing silently, the slow, light, feather shaped flakes settling softly on the ground, on roof tops and trees, rapidly coating everything with a frosting of white. Children love to play outdoors when it is snowing softly  like this. They put on their boots and jackets, scarves, mitts and caps, and run outside. The snowflakes will kiss their eyelids and settle on their cheeks. You can hold out your tongue and taste the snow. 

Snow is as white as white can be and tastes like.... well.... snow, as it melts on your tongue.  If you scrap a bit of frost from the inside of the freezer in your fridge and put it on your mouth, you will know what I am talking about.  But then, the frost from the freezer might have absorbed the flavor of some of the food stored in the fridge while snow that comes straight from the sky is water in its purest form and absolutely without flavor.

Roof tops, ground and bare branches of trees coated with snow:




Sometimes it snows through much of the night ,covering the ground with inches of white stuff.  Then in the morning the sun will come up and the sky will be a clear bright blue. Children love this kind of mild, sunny winter days. They go outside and gather snow by armful and start making snow balls to throw at each other.  If you take some snow in your hand and make a ball out of it and then roil it on the snow on the ground, it starts gathering more snow and getting bigger and bigger.  You can then stack them and make a snow man.

A snowman wearing a hat and a scarf and holding a hockey stick:




On a sunny day, children will find a hill and waddle up the slope dragging their toboggans behind them and the snow will scrunch and sqeak beneath their boots.  Once they reach the top of the slope, they will sit on the toboggan give themselves a push and come riding down, laughing with glee while gathering speed as the ground slopes beneath them.  

Children tobogganing on slopes:



Children also enjoy lying down on their back on the snow and moving their hands and legs up and down to make angel shapes on snow surface.

A snow angel:





Ponds and lakes freeze in winter and children skate on the surface and even play ice hockey and other games.

Though fresh snow is soft, after a day or two of sunshine, the surface becomes crisp and shiny. When you walk on it, the scrunchy crust will break and our boots sink through the fluffy stuff below leaving giant foot prints behind as you walk on. 

Footprints on snow:






As sun rays start melting the snow on the ground, it forms various interesting patterns.

Patterns on snow as melting goes on:




Icicles  on trees and roof tops:




The snow on the roof and treetops that melt during daytime will re-freeze at night when temperature drops and the next morning, you see icicles hanging down. Children like to break these off and suck on them.

Snow also makes intricate designs on window panes. They say no two snow flakes are alike. The little crystals of condensed water make a snowflake just as little pieces of glass make different designs inside a kaledeoscope. Each time you rotate the kaledeoscope, they form a different pattern. That is what happens with snowflakes.

A magnified snowflake:






It is not always fun and games during winter and snow is not always silent and feathery soft . Sometimes the flakes feel splinter sharp and sound like small stones being thrown at the roof. Other times the wind is so icy cold, it freezes your fingers and toes and your teeth will be chattering if you stay outdoors too long . The howling wind blows the snow, forming a sheet of whiteness around so that you can hardly see anything. On such days, it is not comfortable to be outdoors. We would rather be indoors in the warmth of our homes sipping hot chocolate!   Luckily all houses have fire places and gas furnaces that keep our homes warm and toasty when the weather is freezing cold outdoors.             
    
Uday,  I have tried to give you a snow experience through this letter,  but I realize that my words are not enough.  I hope one day you will get to see snow and hold it in your hands and feeI it melt to water.

Hope you enjoy your Christmas holidays.  

Lots of love from Canada.

Yours, Aunty Sue

Acknowledgement:  Photo of  magnified snowflake www.snowcrystals.com     
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