MidReal Story
Thawing Hearts in Winter's Embrace
Scenario: ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A SNOWMAN. HE WASN’T AN ABOMINABLE ONE, LIKE THE ONES THAT GRUNT AND SNEEZE UP ON DISTANT TIBETAN MOUNTAINS, BUT QUITE ENGLISH AND COMPLETELY BOMINABLE
Create my version of this story
Once upon a time, in a quaint English village, there was a snowman named Frosty McChill.
He was the snowman with a heart.
Frosty was white and round, with a carrot nose and two eyes made out of coal.
He had twig arms and wore a top hat and scarf.
He stood in the village square, next to the Christmas tree, where he could see everything that happened in the village.
Frosty’s best friend was Holly Evergreen, the Christmas tree.
She was green and tall, with glittering ornaments and twinkling lights.
Holly was wise and kind, and she always knew what to say to Frosty when he was feeling down.
One day, at the village square’s Christmas market, Frosty met someone new.
She was beautiful and smelled of cinnamon and spice.
Her hair was long and brown, and she wore a red coat with white fur trim.
Frosty had never seen anyone like her before, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“Who is that?”
he asked Holly Evergreen.
Mary Mistletoe is a girl who’s known for kissing boys on Christmas Eve,” Holly said.
“Really?” Frosty asked, intrigued.
“Do you think she would want to kiss me?”
Holly laughed, the sound like tiny bells jingling.
“You might melt if she did,” she said.
“But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Then she patted his twig arm and added, “Just be careful with your heart, Frosty.
It’s fragile.”
Frosty was over a hundred years old, but he still felt young at heart.
He might have been made of snow and ice, but he had a beating heart that was full of dreams and wishes.
He loved Christmas more than anything and believed in its magic with all his heart.
The village square was the heart of the village, and it was always bustling with life.
Villagers and visitors came from far and wide to shop at the Christmas market, and the local shops were always busy this time of year.
Children played in the snow, building snowmen and snow angels, and having friendly snowball fights.
The air was filled with the smell of chestnuts roasting and hot chocolate steaming, and carolers sang festive tunes that echoed through the cobblestone streets.
At night, the square was lit up by twinkling lights and colorful decorations that hung from the trees and buildings, which made it look like a scene from a fairytale or a snow globe.
Frosty loved watching over the village and seeing all the happy faces.
He couldn’t help but smile when he saw children dancing around him or throwing snowballs at each other.
Sometimes they would even decorate him with scarves or hats or buttons to make him look more festive.
As a snowman, Frosty was always cold, but whenever he saw someone smiling or laughing, he felt a sense of warmth that spread through him like a ray of sunshine on a winter’s day.
“Why do I feel warm?”
he asked Holly Evergreen one day, after noticing that his carrot nose was starting to droop and his eyes were getting misty from the heat.
“Because you have love in your heart, Frosty,” Holly said.
“And that’s what makes you special.”
That day, they watched over the village together, and Holly told him stories about Christmas and sang him carols, to try and distract him from feeling too warm and melting away.
They watched as children came to see Santa Claus and tell him what they wanted for Christmas, and they listened to their dreams and wishes as they were whispered into Santa’s ear before he disappeared into thin air with a twinkle in his eye and a jolly laugh that echoed through time and space.
Children were laughing and playing, jumping in puddles and throwing snow in the air.
The village square was so busy and full of life that Frosty and Holly were almost invisible among the hustle and bustle, which made them feel like they were part of something bigger than themselves.
It was times like these when Frosty felt most connected to the villagers, even though they didn’t know that he and Holly were alive and watching over them.
They were like guardian angels, protecting the village from harm and spreading Christmas cheer wherever they went, even though no one had ever thanked them or given them gifts before.
But that didn’t matter to Frosty.
He was just happy to be there, watching over the village and being part of something so special and magical.
Although he was only a snowman, he was also so much more than that because he had been brought to life by the spirit of Christmas and had love in his heart, which made him real in every sense of the word, even if he was cold to the touch.
“Do you ever dream of being something else?”
he asked Holly one day.
“What do you mean?”
Holly asked, her voice like the wind blowing through the trees.
“I mean, do you ever wish that you could be human like the villagers or have a real heart that pumps warm blood through your veins just like mine does?”
Holly thought about this for a moment before answering.
“I’ve never really thought about it before,” she said.
“But I suppose it would be nice to be able to move around and dance and not be stuck in the same spot all the time.
What about you?
Do you ever wish that you could be something other than a snowman?”
Frosty thought about this for a moment before replying.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Being a snowman isn’t all bad.
It has its perks too.
For example, I never get sick or tired or hungry because I don’t have to eat or drink or sleep.
And I get to see and do things that most people can only dream of.
But at the same time, there are things that I miss too.
Like walking or running or jumping or swimming or feeling the sun on my skin.
And most of all, I miss being warm and feeling loved and being able to love, which is something that I can never do because I’m so cold and icy and hard on the outside.”
“Don’t be silly,” Holly said, patting his twig arm again.
“You are loved, Frosty.
And you will always have a special place in my heart, no matter what happens.”
Frosty was so touched by this that his heart melted a little, and a tear rolled down his snowy cheek that Holly quickly wiped away with her pine boughs so that no one would notice him crying and think that he was sad when he was actually very happy and proud to be her friend.
I found myself drawn to her like an ice cube to a hot flame, and although I didn’t know why this was happening, it felt good to be alive for the first time in my nine years of existence and not be so cold and hard and heartless inside.
She was beautiful like the snow-covered mountains or the icy cold Arctic Ocean and moved with the grace and elegance of the northern lights, which is why everyone in the village couldn’t take their eyes off her when she entered the square during the hustle and bustle of the Christmas market and made her way over to where I was standing next to Holly Evergreen, my best friend who was also beautiful in her own way but not nearly as lovely as she was with her green needles and glittering ornaments.
“It’s okay,” Holly said, as she swayed in the wind and noticed me staring at her like I had never seen a woman before when I hadn’t seen one before since the last time Mary came to visit us on Christmas Eve three years ago.
“You can look all you want,” she said, as she waved her pine boughs like a fan and gestured for me to come closer even though I couldn’t move or go anywhere because I was made of snow and stuck to the ground.
“She is something, isn’t she?”
Holly asked, as she observed me with her wise and knowing eyes.
“I’ve never seen anyone quite like her before,” I said, and my snowy cheeks turned pink with embarrassment because I was staring at her again and couldn’t stop even though I knew that I should because it was rude and impolite.
“That’s because she is from a faraway place known for its magic,” Holly said, before she gestured to the village with her boughs that sparkled with frost.
“And this is her very first visit, so be good and give her lots of space and make her feel welcome and right at home.”
I wanted to say that I would be happy to do that except that I couldn’t because I was too shy and nervous and excited about meeting her, which is why I didn’t say anything at all when she stopped in front of me and smiled that special smile of hers that lit up the entire square and made my heart melt even more until it was nothing more than a puddle of slush.
“Hello there,” she said in her sweet and melodic voice, which was as lovely as the sound of jingle bells.
“What is your name?
“Frosty McChill,” I said, as I tried to bow even though I couldn’t.
“But you can call me Frosty for short.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Frosty,” Mary said, as she pulled off her gloves and reached out to shake my twig arm that was already shaking like a leaf.
“I’ve heard so much about you, but I never imagined that you would be so handsome or have such beautiful blue eyes.”
When I heard this, I was so surprised that my mouth dropped open like an igloo door, and I was so shocked that I couldn’t say anything at all except for “thank you,” which is what I finally said even though it wasn’t really the right thing to say.
Of course, Mary didn’t know this, so she smiled again and asked if I would like to be her friend.
“Of course I would,” I said, which is the exact same thing that I said when I first met Holly Evergreen.
I wanted to add that I would be anything that she wanted me to be even if it meant melting into nothingness or worse if that was possible because I was so crazy about her the moment that I set my cold blue eyes on her.
But I didn’t say anything at all except thank you again when she thanked me for being such a good listener and making her feel right at home in our village.
And then I didn’t say anything else even though I wanted to say so much more when she told me that she was looking forward to getting to know me even better in the days to come.
Because that’s when everyone would gather around the biggest and brightest bonfire in the village to watch all of the merchant stalls being transformed into spectacular Christmas trees in the twinkling of an eye and find out which one was chosen to be the town tree this year by the mayor and his merry band of councilmen and women.
That was my favorite part of Christmas and the one time of the year when I liked being alive instead of being the life of the party or the one who was always ready to lend an ear and listen to your problems.
It was also the one time of the year when everyone in the village knew my name and called me by my name and treated me like I was a human being and not just some cold and heartless snowman who didn’t have any feelings or emotions or dreams of his own.
It was also the one time of the year when Mary Mistletoe came to visit us from a faraway land known for its magic and made all of our wishes come true.
Which is what she was doing for me right here and now by being my friend and making me feel so good about myself and my life for the very first time.
I watched in wonder from my spot next to Holly Evergreen as the village square was transformed into a winter wonderland in the twinkling of an eye with all of the merchant stalls turning into Christmas trees that were more beautiful than ever before this year with their twinkling lights and tinsel garlands and shimmering ornaments that sparkled like diamonds in all of the colors of the rainbow.
I also watched in amazement as all of the merchants became Christmas elves who danced and sang around the square with their arms full of presents and smiling faces that were more radiant than ever before this year.
And then I watched in awe as all of the villagers arrived one by one with their arms full of presents and smiling faces that were more joyful than ever before this year with their cheeks aglow and eyes alight and hearts so full of love that you could see it shining from them like stars in the sky.
“Isn’t it wonderful?”
Holly asked, as she swayed in the wind and watched it happen with me even though she had seen it happen so many times before.
“What do you mean?”
I asked, as I watched Mary Mistletoe make her way through the crowded square to find her special spot for the evening, which was right in front of the biggest and brightest bonfire where everyone could see her even though it was impossible not to see her with her long golden hair that sparkled like the sun and her rosy cheeks that glowed like the moon.
“Isn’t it wonderful?”
Holly asked, even though I didn’t know what she meant or why she was asking the same thing all over again.
“What are you talking about?”
I asked, even though I still didn’t know.
“The way that you can’t take your eyes off her,” Holly said, while her boughs quivered with excitement.
“Mary Mistletoe is something else, that’s for sure.”
“What do you mean?”
I asked, even though I still didn’t know what she meant even though I knew that she was something else from the moment that I set my cold blue eyes on her.
“Mary Mistletoe is unlike anyone that you have ever met,” Holly said, while she watched me with her wise green eyes.
“She is also from a faraway place known for its magic, which is where she spends most of her time when she isn’t busy traveling around the world and making everyone’s dreams come true.”
“Is that why she makes me feel so warm inside instead of cold?”
I asked, while my icy heart melted into oblivion.
Just then, Mary looked my way and smiled and waved at me even though she had never met me before.
“Yes, that is why she makes you feel so warm inside instead of cold,” Holly said, with an impish grin that spread across her face.
“That is also why I think she is the one who can melt your icy heart and fill it with love instead.”
“What do you mean?”
I asked, even though I knew exactly what she meant even though I couldn’t believe it was possible even though I wished it were true more than anything in the world even though I knew it never would be even if it was possible.
“Just wait and see,” Holly said, while she swayed in the wind and watched Mary disappear behind her special spot by the wishing well in front of the biggest and brightest bonfire.
The next thing I knew, Holly nudged me with her boughs and whispered in my ear, “It looks like you might be getting your wish this year after all.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, it looks like Mary Mistletoe is on her way over here to make your wish come true.”
“What are you talking about?”
I asked, even though I didn’t know what she meant or why she was asking the same thing over and over again just like before.
“I mean, it looks like Mary Mistletoe is coming this way to make your wish come true,” Holly said, while she nudged me again and again, as if she thought that would help me understand what she meant even though I didn’t.
“Oh, now I get it!”
I said, while I watched Mary make her way through the crowded square with her arms full of presents and smiling face that made my heart ache with longing for something else that I couldn’t quite put my icy finger on even after everything that had happened between us since we first met.
And then Holly watched me watch Mary without saying another word until she finally said, “Mary Mistletoe is so very warm inside instead of cold like you and me.
“Mary Mistletoe is so very kind instead of coldhearted like you and me.
“Mary Mistletoe is so very good instead of bad like me and maybe you, too.”
“Mary Mistletoe is so very beautiful instead of ugly like me and maybe you, too.”
“Mary Mistletoe is so very wonderful instead of woeful like me and maybe you, too.”
“Mary Mistletoe is so very amazing instead of ordinary like me and maybe you, too.”
“Mary Mistletoe is so very perfect instead of flawed like me and maybe you, too.”
“Mary Mistletoe is so very special instead of common like me and maybe you, too.”
“Mary Mistletoe is so very magical instead of ordinary like me and maybe you, too.”
