Falling into Winter

My foot slipped from underneath me and I fell; extending my wrist out towards the ice to break my fall. I was too cold to scream loudly, so my throat quietly whimpered. Glad that I wasn’t seriously hurt, I carefully got up from the wetness I knew would stain my brownie colored Uggs. I glided across the ice, aware that I could easily fall again. My two dogs pulled ahead of me, ready to relieve themselves and meet our neighbor’s pit-bull. My voice firmly told them to slow down and take it easy. The air around my mouth was cold, and as I spoke, I could see my breath. My ears felt like icicles. I craved some hot cocoa with marshmallows and a warm croissant as my stomach grumbled. At every bush, tree, and snow patch, my dogs would insist on stopping and marking their territory. Of course, this would leave nothing but yellow snow for me to attempt to cover up. The extending leashes jerked back and forth as they swerved through the road. As I looked over my shoulder at our rented winter cabin, I saw my dad shoveling his way into the garage door. The snow from the roof had fallen off and buried the path to the frequently used door. Heavy packs of snow slammed against the side of the cabin sounding like a stomping giant, and startling me every time. By now, two days after the big snowfall, the snow was filthy. With cars rushing through it and by it, splashing up puddles of mud, and snowshoe’s traipsing through it, within two days it was brown snow rather than white.
As I walked back, shivering, through the same path we had come on, I noticed my dad was hanging up string lights on our roof. Some of them were burned out, which made me laugh, but I didn’t mention it.
As day turned to night, I noticed that most of the houses on our street were decorated with lights and holiday decorations. It reminded me of the neighborhood in one of those over-exaggerated Christmas movies. And I realized, when looking up at the sky, that the moon and the stars were just as bright as these decorations. Still, my dogs yanked on the leashes, dragging me down two more houses. I pulled them back to our cabin and ran inside, not even thinking about losing my footing again. Once inside, I huddled close to the fire, satisfied to be so cozy.