The Snowman's Surprise

One morning, Birdie peeked out of her round cottage window. The whole woods was white and sparkly. "Snow!" she cheered.

She wrapped her warm scarf around her neck and flew outside as fast as her wings could carry her.

"Let's build a snowman!" Birdie called. "The biggest snowman in the whole woods!"

Lyle the hedgehog rolled a tiny snowball. He pushed and pushed, and it grew and grew, until it was even bigger than Lyle.

Hazel the fox rolled the middle snowball and lifted it right on top. Clover the bunny, in her fuzzy earmuffs, patted on a round little head.

Clover found two dark pebbles for eyes. Birdie flew up high and placed a bright orange carrot for a nose. Lyle added two stick arms, and Hazel tied on a cozy striped scarf.

"He needs a smile," said Clover. So the friends pressed in a row of little pebbles, and the snowman grinned at them.

Lyle had one more idea. He wrapped a string of twinkly lights around the snowman, round and round.

That night, the friends said goodnight to their snowman. "He looks wonderful," said Birdie, "but something is still missing."

The next morning, the friends ran outside and gasped. Their snowman was wearing a red hat with a fluffy white pom-pom! Big boot prints led away into the woods, and tiny sleigh tracks went up into the sky.

"Santa came by!" whispered Birdie. "He must have loved our snowman too."

The friends gave their snowman a great big hug. It was the best snowman ever.