Author's Note: I wrote this for my creative writing class, and it's supposed to be focused on setting. It's from the point of view of a person who's never seen snow before.

Snowfall

I’ve lived down south all my life, so I’ve only seen snow on TV. When I woke up one December morning to see it actually snowing outside, a shiver of excitement ran through me. I moved up here over the summer, and I had been looking forward to seeing snow ever since. I stood at the window watching it fall. It wasn’t quite the same as it is in the movies. There were little snowflakes falling all over, but it wasn’t a blizzard that people could get lost in. And they weren’t those dry, plastic-looking snowflakes either. It wasn’t at all like snow on TV, but it almost reminded me of one of those snow globes with glitter in it.

Outside, the snow was not covering everything evenly. It was gathering on the grass, and even on the trees, but everything else seemed just seemed wet. I never thought about snow clinging to trees before, but it does. It looks like one of those Christmas cards I always thought was too pretty to be real. I saw a few people bundled up in huge puffy coats scuttle by like enormous beetles. Didn’t they want to pause to look at how beautiful the snow was? Maybe they couldn’t see it anymore, having lived here all their lives.

The next time I looked, the snow had changed from tiny flakes falling to larger snowflakes. They weren’t just slowly floating down anymore either. Now the wind blew swarms of snowflakes at the earth like angry bees ready to sting. It didn’t look quite like a snow globe anymore, and was starting to resemble the deadly blizzards I had seen on television. It had mostly covered the ground, and was starting to be noticeable on the pavement too. Soon all I could see of the grass were a few spikes poking up above the whiteness.

By evening, the snow had finally stopped. It was starting to get dark outside, but I had to go out and see how the world had changed. I grabbed a coat and left the house to see what snow was really like.

Everything was covered in white. Cars looked like small hills. The trees looked even more beautiful with whiteness covering the tops of their branches. Even the sidewalks and roads were covered in snow. It was as if everything had disappeared beneath this strange, cold white stuff. I took a deep breath of air and realized it was so cold that it almost hurt to breathe too deeply. Taking small breaths, I tried to place the smell of the snow. I didn’t expect it to smell like anything, but you get almost the same smell if you stick your nose in a cup of really cold water, or even ice. That’s not very surprising, I guess, but I never realized that it would have any smell at all. It also gave me the impression that somewhere miles away, someone had a fire burning. I could smell some kind of wood smoke, but it was so distant that it was barely noticeable.

Bending down, I scooped up a handful of the snow on the ground. It felt almost soft, not at all like a snow cone you get in the summer. I can't think of anything else like it. The only thing it’s similar to might be frozen cotton candy. I’ve never had frozen cotton candy of course, but it had that light, fluffy quality that very few other things have. I took a bite of it, and the texture was the same before it melted in my mouth. It tasted like very cold water, but the texture made it amazingly different. This was a solid, not a liquid. That changed the whole experience of eating it.

The cold was stinging my hand, almost making it go numb, so I squeezed the remaining snow in my hand and threw it against a tree. Some of the snow stuck to the tree, and the rest scattered to the ground. I wiped my cold, wet hand off on my coat and put it in my pocket. I was getting cold, but I wasn’t quite ready to go in yet.

There was a group of little kids across the street, and they were doing all kinds of things with the snow. Some were throwing snowballs at each other, while others seemed to just be rolling around in it. I spent a while trying to make a snowman, but it didn’t turn out very well. So I just made a few miniature snowmen and set them around the yard. Looking across the street again, I noticed that the kids had gone inside, but there were snow angels on the ground, mostly trampled by small feet. By this time, there was only one smooth space on my yard, about as big as a queen-size bed. So I stood with my back to it and let myself fall back. Snow immediately fell down the neck of my coat, into my shoes, and against every other bit of open skin I had. I thought it would just stay where it was! It didn’t seem to bother all those kids sitting in the snow over there! I quickly moved my arms up and down and my legs back and forth and stood up, teeth chattering. My snow angel looked all right, but they looked nicer from a distance. The wings were uneven. And the head-mark was too small. But I didn’t feel like sticking my head back in the snow again.

The snow had changed the town’s whole atmosphere. It had never been a loud place, but there was always some noise around, even if it was just cars in the distance or squirrels dropping acorns. But today, it seemed completely silent. The children’s shouting sounded clear but quieter, and they worked harder at playing than at talking today. When a car went by, it sounded horribly out of place. Nothing should be disturbing this silence. The snow even muffled the sound of my footfalls.

However, all good things must end eventually. After a few minutes I was too cold to stay outside any more. I went back to my room on the second floor and changed into some dry, warm clothes. I looked out at the scene being illuminated by streetlights. Everything was so white and smooth. Suddenly all my footprints, snowmen, and snow angel looked wrong on the perfect white surface.

I heard a muffled sound coming down the road, and saw that an old red truck with a huge shovel attached to its front bumper was coming down the street, clearing the snow away. It piled up a big mound of the whiteness in front of it, and left behind a dirty gray street. Even the snow on the sides of the road was now flecked with gray. On the next block over, one of my neighbors was shoveling her sidewalk. She cut a neat path through the cover of white, leaving the wet brown sidewalk behind. It seemed like the desecration of a holy place. How could anyone ruin such perfect beauty? Couldn’t their lives wait for a while?

Not feeling like watching the snow anymore, I turned away from the window and went to make some hot chocolate.

Endnote: Well, what do you think? Was it convincing at least? I've lived with snow all my life, but I'm fascinated by people who see it for the first time. Please leave me a review! Thanks!