Tuesday Tales: From the Word GRUMPY

Welcome to this week’s Tuesday Tales. Have you ever built a snowman? It’s not as easy as it looks. Our word prompt this week is GRUMPY. I’m continuing with Naughty Rudolph, my Christmas Romance Comedy. Enjoy!

Rolling a snowball isn’t as easy as it looks and despite the fact that my balls were smaller, they took me as long to roll as the larger ones. By the time I’d finished, I was sweating.

Rudy settled the medium sized ball onto the large one, and he and Callie secured it in place with snow, blending the two together. They repeated the process two more times. Once they were done, he picked up my sorry excuse for heads and added them to the bodies. I helped pack the snow to keep them in place while Callie got the necessary items to complete the job.

She had large buttons for eyes—one set green, another blue, and a final set brown. She used carrots for the noses and plastic mouths made with small buttons attached together to complete the faces. The one on the largest snowman kept slipping as if he were grumpy. Finally, she stuck plastic twigs in for arms and used two black buttons on each chest.

One head got a straw hat, another a flowered sunbonnet, and the third a ball cap.

“Yay! We’re finished. Daddy take out your phone and take a picture. We have a daddy, a mommy, and a little girl.”

I swallowed. Not, “Daddy, Aunt Nell, and me,” as I’d hoped.

Rudy took several pictures of us with the snow family.

I laughed when I noticed snow protruding rather obviously from the snow mommy.

“We need to shave a little off here,” I pointed to the bump. “The snow mommy is a bit too fat, don’t you think?”

“No,” Callie cried, horrified by the suggestion. “She’s growing a baby for next year. Babies grown in mommies’ stomachs, but they take a long time. My friend Lucie’s mommy has been growing one since Easter. It’s supposed to be ready for Christmas.”

I tried to keep my face blank, but one look at the surprise on Rudy’s face and I almost lost it.

I managed to contain my laughter. “My, you certainly know a lot about snow babies. Don’t you?”

“Yup. I pay attention. Aunt Nell calls me a little pitcher with big ears. It means I listen all the time.”

Even when she wasn’t supposed to do so. Rudy and I would have to be very careful. Callie might well be working on what she wanted for Christmas next year.

Before I could say anything, the door opened and Nell called us in for lunch.

Don’t forget to check out the other Tuesday Tales.