One snowman is a yard decoration. Two is a couple. Three or more is a family, and once a family is standing in the yard something strange happens: everyone in the house looks at the row and quietly decides which one they are.
This is not new. The vintage snowman collectors have been doing it for seventy years with ceramic families on the shelf. The couples who buy matching snowman shirts do it too ~ one buyer described a pair she got for herself and her husband as "the snowman and woman vibe," which is a woman looking at two snow figures and seeing a portrait. Snow families are avatars. Here is the cast, so you can find yours.
The tall one
Built first, built straight, placed in the best spot. The tall one has the widest base and the most pebbles and was made by the person who read the instructions. He will be the last one standing in March. He is, in every household, the one who also unloads the dishwasher without being asked.
The lopsided one
Built second, by someone who was cold. The middle ball is off-center. One arm is higher than the other. He leans slightly, and he has leaned since the first night, and he is not going to fall, he is just going to lean. The lopsided one is beloved. Everyone defends him. When a visitor points out the lean, the whole family says "he's fine" in unison.
The small one
Knee-high. Made from the leftover snow at the end, usually by the youngest person present, with a nose that is a stick because the carrots ran out. The small one is the most photographed snowman in the yard by a wide margin. He is also the first to go, because he was built in the sun, and his departure is a genuine household event.
The one with the good hat
There is one good hat. It went on one snowman. Everyone knows which one, and the other snowmen know too. The one with the good hat is not the tallest or the best built, but he has presence, and he will be the one strangers comment on from the sidewalk. In the house, this is the person who always somehow gets the good chair.
The one facing the wrong way
Built while looking at the house instead of the street. Now spends the season with his back to the neighborhood, looking at the kitchen window. Nobody turns him around because turning him around would break him. He is content. He sees more than the others do, honestly, because the kitchen is where everything happens.
The one who was a dog
Somebody tried to make a snow dog. It has four lumps and a tail and it is, if you squint, a dog. It is part of the family now. It is the favorite of the actual dog, who has checked on it every morning.
How to use this
Build the family this winter. Do not plan it. Let each person make their own and see what comes out. Then stand back and watch the household sort itself, because it will, and someone is going to say "I'm obviously the lopsided one," and they will be right.
Matching snow-family shirts work for the same reason. One snowman per person, each a little different, each clearly related, and every member of the household knows which one they are before anyone says it out loud. Snowman Dayz makes those, for couples, for families, for the grandparents who want the grandkids in the row, and we make them with the cast in mind. The tall one. The lopsided one. The one with the good hat.
Go find yours in The Snow Day. We already know which one you are, and we are not going to say.