A few years ago my daughter and her family were living in Hawaii. My then 6 year old granddaughter YaYa couldn’t hear enough about all the snow we had in New Hampshire. A true snow child. My answer was to send her snowballs for her early February birthday.

The two Fedex ladies near the Manchester airport didn’t bat an eyelash when I said the styrofoam steaks box packed with newspaper and dry ice needed to go overnight to Hawaii. They would get it there. I didn’t say what needed to stay frozen, and they didn’t stop to wonder until it was all packed in a big cardboard box full of packing peanuts. There were many forms to fill out and lots of ‘Hazardous Contents’ stickers. It is a tricky thing to ship something packed in dry ice by plane.

When they finally did ask I confessed to sending snow to my granddaughter for her birthday. They were simultaneously horrified (it was not cheap) and charmed.

The surprise came off perfectly. YaYa was thrilled with her snowballs. As were her classmates the next day when the first snow many of them had ever seen were part of show and tell.

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