Photo by Austris Augusts on Unsplash
When life gives you too much snow, make snow angels.
One of my favorite snow scenes that I almost forgot about when I started thinking about sharing snow scenes from my books is from The Believer, my second Shaker story. In this book I wanted to share more about the Shakers’ history and beliefs. They were very rule centered. They had rules for almost everything, even which foot to step up on the first stair. They wanted all their members to be alike in manner and dress. Conformity was desired to fit into the Society. Each had a place. Each had a purpose. None could stand out and resist the rules.
This could make it very difficult for the person who didn’t fit in, who didn’t want to bend to the rules, who was different in thought and manner. My young character, Hannah, was that person. She was a bit of a wild child who had never been made to conform before she and her older sister and brother came to the Shakers because they had nowhere else to go. Even her hair, so blonde it was almost white with wild curls, did not fit with the Shaker rules as she could not keep it hidden under a cap. The Shaker teacher tried to rein in Hannah’s free spirit, not with love but with complaints and punishing words. So, of course Hannah runs away and when the teacher comes to make her return to the schoolroom, she climbs a tree and dumps snow on the teacher’s head. The eldress in charge of the children’s house sends Elizabeth, the older sister, after her in hopes she can convince Hannah to conform. This following is part of that scene.
Hannah was not hard to find. Her footprints in the snow were easy to follow from the tree where the original wrong had been committed outside the children’s house. Every few feet there was a new snow angel. The footprints stopped at a small stand of trees back behind the Gathering Family’s house. Elizabeth kept her eyes on the ground as if she couldn’t figure what had happened to the trail of prints and waited.
The minutes passed. No shower of snow came down on her head. She began to wonder if the wind had perhaps whipped away the trace of Hannah’s footprints in this spot or perhaps she sat up in the tree, too frozen to move. She waited another minute. Then without looking up into the branches, she said, “Aren’t you going to drop snow on my head?”
“No.” Hannah spoke from above Elizabeth. She sounded sad. “The good time for snow dropping has passed. The snow has gone.”
Elizabeth looked up. She couldn’t see Hannah’s face as she huddled next to the tree trunk not far above her. “There is much snow still under my feet. Is there not even a smidgen of snow left on the limbs?”
“No. The fun is done.” Hannah’s teeth chattered as she spoke and she was trembling. “The wind has blown it all away. It would have blown me away as well, but I have turned into a chunk of ice and the wind said I was too heavy. That I had to stay in this fearsome cold place until I died.”
“Come down from your branch, little snow bird,” Elizabeth said gently. “Let me warm your frozen wings under my cloak.”
Hannah sat a long moment without moving before she finally looked down at Elizabeth. “I think I may be frozen to the branch.”
“Shall I climb up to break you free?”
“Oh, how I would fain to be free, but Sister Josephine says that such a desire is surely a sin that cannot be allowed. No freedom in this place. Even one’s hair cannot be free to grow as it wills.”
“Come down, Hannah. Now.”
“You’re becoming one of them,” Hannah said, but she uncurled her body and climbed down to the lowest branch. “Will you catch me?”
“I will catch you. I will hold you.” Elizabeth held up her arms and added softly, “I will love you.” ….
“I hear you have been seeing angels.” Elizabeth kept her cloak around Hannah but turned her to start back toward the Gathering Family house.
“Only when I get weary of hearing Sister Josephine tell of the Shaker rules. Then an angel comes to rescue my itchy feet.” Hannah looked a little guilty, but then she giggled and spun away from Elizabeth. “But there are really angels all around us here.” She flopped down on the snow and waved her arms and legs. “See.”
“Your fingers and toes are going to fall off if you don’t stay out of the snow.”
“Make an angel with me,” Hannah begged. “Please. Just one bigger angel to protect my little angel.”
She’d have to confess her folly to Sister Ruth later, but Elizabeth turned and flopped back into the snow beside Hannah. The snow was cold as she waved her arms and legs through it, but at the same time she felt a jolt of childish joy. She laughed as she and Hannah got up carefully to keep from spoiling their angels’ wings.
As she brushed the snow off her skirt and cloak and pushed a stray hair back up under her cap, she looked back at the snow angels and whispered, “May angels watch over us.”
Hannah came over to slip her hand into Elizabeth’s and lean against her. “These will melt with the sunshine, but there are other angels. I haven’t seen them. Not really the way I told Sister Josephine, but I know they’re there.”
“Our guardian angels,” Elizabeth said softly as she lightly touched Hannah’s head. “Every child has one. Yours will surely watch over you.”
Upon reading that scene now I wonder if children have always fallen down in the snow to make snow angels. I like to think so, don’t you? That’s my question for you this week.
Have you ever made a snow angel?
I’m not sure I ever did as a child, but one of my grandkids convinced me to give it a try once. I got snow down the collar of my coat. I think I was too old to experience the joy of snow angels. LOL.
If you leave a comment on the post, you will have an entry into my winter book giveaway chance. If you left a comment on the last post where I shared a scene from Along a Storied Trail, thank you. If you leave a comment on this post, you’ll get another entry to give you an extra chance to win your choice of one of my winter books, including The Believer.
The deadline for entries is midnight EST, February 10, 2026. Winners will be notified by email and announced on my post on February 11th. You have to be at least 18 years old to enter. Each time you leave a comment on a new post before the deadline, you get another entry. I love when you join the conversation here. You can answer the snow angel question or comment on the scene or say whether you’ve read any of the Shaker books. Any comment will do.
The prize will be a choice of one of my books with winter weather playing a part. I’ll pick two winners by random. Each comment will get a number and then I’ll use a random number generator to choose the winning numbers. There haven’t been a lot of comments yet. Maybe the winter scenes aren’t making the stories appealing in this cold weather spell.
Comments 38
Author
Love all you snow angel makers.
Marti, I like how you think it’s a best thing about snow. We followed the Kentucky volleyball girls this year and I loved how they lay down in the confetti after they won the SEC championship and made confetti angels. So fun looking.
Diana, you might have to make sand angels out there in California or rose petal angels.
Lisa, I somehow knew you were going to say yes. Some people just know how to have fun.
Dana and Sharon J, hope you have good memories of those snow angels in the past.
Sharon – growing up in upstate NY, I’m sure you had plenty of snow for whatever kind of fun you wanted to have.
Janet – Sounds like you might be a snow angel making expert with making your own, helping your kids and enjoying seeing the ones the grandkids make. But you are right. You need snow not ice for snow angels.
This scene is beautifully written. I loved it. We made snow angels growing up and I’m still known to do it on impulse. Blessings!
Author
Thank you, Lucy. Glad you liked the scene. It’s been a while since I wrote that book, and I have to admit that I didn’t think it sounded all that bad either. Pretty good, in fact.
I have to admire you still willing to plop down in the snow to fashion some angels. That’s fabulous. Glad you know how to follow an impulse to having sun.
I’ve never made a snow angel. I don’t think I had heard mention of one until sometime in adulthood. I wouldn’t want to do it now, I’m too cold-natured to want to get down in the snow, and then having to try to get back up.
That is so pretty. If I made a snow angel now I wouldn’t be able to get back up. Making them when I was a kid was fun.
I don’t think I’ve ever made a snow angel. Now I feel that I’ve missed out on something.
Many times and most recently a few years back (and I’m no spring chicken), but you’re right there is joy in revisiting the simple pleasures and fond memories of childhood. It melted my heart to read your snow-angel story that I’m sure I’ve read (I’m an avid fan and have read every book of yours). Got me thinking about home and angels–both pleasant topics for me. Thank you for directing my thoughts there.
Author
Aww, thank you for reading my stories, Amy, and enjoying them.
Neat that you are still kid enough to make a snow angel even if you aren’t a spring chicken. I’m no spring chicken either and who knows, if the situation was right, I might consider getting snow down my collar again to make angels in the snow. 🙂
Glad my post started you thinking about some happy topics.
Yes I have made a Snow Angel before please enter me in this amazing giveaway as this Book sounds so interesting Stay Safe and Warm Ann
I’m sure I must have made a few snow angels as a kid. And I have not read any of your Shaker books. I do enjoy the days you share information about the Shaker ways and pictures of their simple lifestyles and gorgeous furniture!
Author
I think most everybody thinks snow angels were probably more fun to make when you are a kid, Connie. I hope my snow scene might make you think about giving one of my Shaker books a try. They share about the Shakers and their history and usually some other history too. The 1st one, The Outsider, had history of the War of 1812. A couple of the others had Civil War history. My last one, The Refuge, I focused on how I thought the women probably formed strong sister bonds while with the Shakers. The Believer was focused on Shaker history and how some people came into their villages for refuge while in need. I never intended to write but one book about the Shakers, but readers liked them and I came up with characters I enjoyed getting to know and liked sharing their stories.
I think I was about 15 when a few of us girls made snow angels on the lawn of our grade school, we thought we were cool.
I’ve never made a snow angel. I played in the snow a lot. Maybe I didn’t know how.
I have made a snow angel, but it didn’t look right and sure enough didn’t feel right or good, so there was no need for me to do that again!
I have made a few snow angels in my time. I loved playing in the snow as a child. As an adult I also feel a “jolt of childish joy” like your character whenever I’m bundled up and out in the snow. I love how you bring your characters to life in your stories and help us as readers experience what they are feeling. You do that so very well.
Author
I took a lot of walks in the snow when I was a kid, Carol. Guess I’m still a kid in that way. Love walking after a snow to see how the farm is changed. Snow can beautify things in a new way. Maybe I feel that childish joy too even if I am an old grandma.
Thank you so much for your kind words about how my characters can come to life for a reader. I love it when they come to life for me when I’m writing.
Yes, I have made snow angels in the past.
Never made snow angles even though I lived on a farm in upstate New York growing up.
I have made snow angels but it’s been a while!
As a child, making snow angels was always the best part of snow.
I remember making snow angels as a child. Helped my children make them as well. I have seen pictures of my grandchildren making angels. I believe it’s a passage of life in the winter.
This last snow was not good for angels. Too much ice!
I have made snow angels but it’s been a long time. My kids certainly did. We lived in Wisconsin for 11 years and North Dakota for 3. I grew up in northern Illinois.
We have been very cold in Missouri thus past few weeks.
Author
You’ve been around a few places where there would be plenty of chances for snow angel making snow, Paula. I think it’s been cold in a lot of places in January and now sliding on into February. We haven’t need temperatures above freezing for going on two weeks and for Kentucky that’s very unusual. Supposed to be a little warmer tomorrow and then back to the freezer again until next week when the snow might finally melt.
I made snow angels when I was little, then when my children were little and even when my first grandchild was little. Now, I think I would rather not. Of course, if one of my grandkids asked me to,I probably would do it.
No, I have never made a snow angel since where I live we don’t get snow (in southern California near the coast).