Snow Sculptures in the Town Square

Our town holds a snow sculpture contest every January, and this year, my sisters and I entered for the first time. Each team gets an eight-foot block of packed snow and two days to turn it into something.

We chose a giant sleeping polar bear. We had shovels, saws, ice scrapers, a cheese grater and a spray bottle of water for smoothing. None of us had any idea what we were doing.

On the first day, we just took snow off, slowly finding a rough bear shape. On the second day, we carved the paws, the ears, the folds of fur. My youngest sister, who's a nurse, carved the face. She gave it a little smile.

The other teams made a dragon, a castle, a giant ice cream cone and a full-size snow piano with a snow pianist. People walked around all weekend with hot chocolate, voting for their favorites.

We won the People's Choice award. The prize was a gift card to the diner. We spent it all on pancakes. The bear lasted until February, smiling in the square.