Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Icicle Winter Wand

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,
and behold, everything is... more beautiful.
-Norman Vincent Peale

As a girl, I imagined icicles were magic winter wands. So, too, were frozen, fallen tree twigs. I recall reading The Call of the Wild, which I hated, and deciding to change it up entirely: instead of being a beast dog, Buck would be transformed into Lovable Winter Dog King through the use of my magic icicle wand, and together we would travel the Yukon in a sleigh made of ice cubes.

I hadn't thought about lovable Buck or ice cube sleighs or icicle wands in forever. Until today, that is. (Fancying myself a winter fairy, I've been taking a lot of winter walks... snapping pictures, listening to the snow crunch... breathing in the frigid wind. It cleans one out, somehow... that wind. It sweeps away a lot of balled-up bitterness as it blows straight through.) Anyway, I felt it again yesterday as I walked, and as I ducked behind some trees, hoping for a wind break, I heard the icy cracks and scrapes of the trees' frozen fingers and looked up... up... up.....

I found my icicle winter wand today. Turns out, it's been there all along. I was just too grown-up to notice. And although my dreams for Buck and ice cube sleighs have melted away, one dream remains frozen in time....

Gosh, I love Christmas. I love winter.

5 comments:

Rick said...

You have quite the imagination. I liked the quote from Peale.

http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/

Elenka said...

I don't know if you would love winter so much if you lived in the Northeast. lol November THROUGH March and even into April sometimes. It's just too much. Beautiful sometimes, but sometimes too much. And during bad ice storms, the winter wands lose their magic. Be careful what you wish for!!
Hope all is well!

Terri Steffes said...

I posted some ice covered branches too. The midwest is being hit hard.

I'd love winter no matter where I was.

Unknown said...

I really do love the way you think Brin! :)

Betty said...

I love Christmas and I love winter although winter could be a few months shorter.
Never quite thought of those icicles as a wand!