Family+Stories

Snowball War

“The fight will go down at 5:30 tomorrow morning.. Be there, or wake up in a wet bed.” Brandon stated while we sat inside our grandparents living room. He was under the impression that the sun would be awake and ready for the chaos that the world would bring it in an hour that is unfamiliar to God. “I’m not even going to sleep tonight, I’m going to go make a snow-fort and place perfect snowballs throughout Nan and Poppy’s yard in places no one else will find them.” He added. Competitive-ness runs strongly in our family. “Well, I’m going to grab the basketball goal, and climb onto the roof. Prepare to be demolished, Bran.” Jessica said to him. So it was all set; the time: 5:30; the place: Nan and Poppy’s yard; the goal: to win. And we all went to bed that night with the intentions of being outside and ready for the fight that was sure to be the most epic battle we had ever taken part in. When we woke up the next morning at 9:00, not only did we find WAY more snow than when we went to bed, we also found that none of us had gotten up at 5:30, though Brandon did claim, “Where were you guys? I was up on the roof waiting to attack.” So, after a hearty breakfast of potatoes and onions, we put on our heaviest clothing, and headed out of the door. The snow was perfect packing snow, and there was the perfect amount, I had only seen that much snow one other time in my life. We started out separately, careful of who we trusted, and careful of where we were going. We cautiously walked around the sides of the house, frequently checking our surroundings, aware of the impending surprise attacks. Slowly, we formed alliances, Jess with Mom, and Me with Brandon. Brandon and I started towards the woods, carefully peeking around the corner of the house, “Keep two snowballs in your hand at all times. Don’t go anywhere unprotected.” he told me. We sat on the ground packing snow together as fast as we could, very aware that Mom and Jess were just around the corner. “I’ll go around the front and attack them from behind” I told him, while he sat preparing more snowballs. As I ran through the yard, carrying my two snowballs of course, I heard a loud squeal and when I turned around, I saw Brandon on the ground shielding his face from the snowballs that were being pelted at him by Jessica and Mom. We retaliated once their attack stopped by running up to where the cars were and waited for them to start their journey back up to the front of the house. While we hid behind the cars, we gathered as much snow as we could and waited patiently for the others to arrive. When they finally got there, the battle continued. Since we had been battling for an hour already, we had lost some steam. The excitement was still there, but the energy had disappeared. We stayed around the cars for another hour, endlessly lobbing snow piles toward each other. Finally when all of our energy had dissipated, we reluctantly walked back into the sweltering house. When we got inside, we crashed in the living room trying to gather the strength that we had lost during the epic battle. We sat and watched the video that Poppy had recorded during our battle. We watched it over, and over, and over again. This snowball fight was one of the most enjoyable things that we have taken part in, in a long time. Being together, all of the grandkids, is always one of my favorite things. We always know how to have fun, and make it hilarious.