Of fairy tales, and children, and the kingdom of Heaven

Last night LovelyDaughter and I dug out our video of "Frosty The Snowman." I think maybe --heaven forbid-- we're getting too old to watch it. Because we started noticing things we'd never noticed before. Hence, the following list of:

THING ONLY ADULTS NOTICE about the story of Frosty

1. The explanation for the snow being special is

a) it's the first snowfall of the year
b) it's Christmas snow

So which one is it? Or is it special when the first snowfall happens at Christmas?


2. The kids are in school till three o'clock. But then later we're told it's Christmas Eve. Since when do kids go to school till mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve?

3. And then, when Karen hops the train with Frosty, she's only concerned about getting home for dinner, not getting home in time to have Christmas Eve celebrations. Strange kid.

4. Nobody in the story ever closes a door! (Except of course when the evil magician slams the door on Frosty and Karen. So... what, the door doesn't open from the inside?) Not even Santa when he comes to rescue Frosty and Karen, but then a few minutes later he goes and OPENS the door and lets a cold breeze in. Who closed it?

5. When Frosty goes belly-flopping, he must have turned to ice. Otherwise, wouldn't he have done what all other cartoon and movie snowballs do, and gather more snow and turn into a monstrously HUGE snowball?

6. When the ticket agent at the train station makes up a ticket to the North Pole he lists many of the stops along the way, including Hudson Bay and Nome, Alaska-- which are at opposite sides of the continent! (I know this was probably put in for the humor, but still...)

7. When Santa brings Karen home, he leaves her on the roof! Poor Karen-- stuck on a snowy roof. And there's not even a chimney for her to go down!

These are all aside from the total improbability of the entire story,

And yet-- "Frosty" is still a cute, fun story. It's a modern fairy tale, complete with a hero, an evil magician, a funny sidekick, a damsel in distress, a rescuer, plenty of magic, and a happy ending.

We all rejoice with the kids when Frosty gets to keep his hat.

We worry with them about getting Frosty to a place where he won't melt, and agonize with Frosty when Karen needs to get warmed up.

We are relieved when she finds a warm place, and infuriated when the evil magician is so small-minded that he sacrifices Karen's and Frosty's well-being for the sake of getting back his hat.

We cry with Karen over Frosty's demise.

We're thrilled when Frosty is restored.

We laugh delightedly to see Santa play his trump card of "no presents EVER" and shout "Yes!" when the evil magician succumbs to the threat.

We're glad at how easy it was to get rid of him forever, since really he was just a selfish, overgrown child, and not that evil, really.

And then we love having the story all wrapped up tidily, with Karen brought back home in time for Christmas, and Frosty, we assume, going to live with Santa forever, where he'll never melt.

(At least, all tied up tidily except we don't know how Karen is going to get down off her roof in the middle of the night-- but never mind that.)

Of course, I don't actually do any of these things OUT LOUD. After all, I'm over forty. But somewhere the little girl in me IS doing those things.

And that is one of the best things about Christmas-- It brings out the child in all of us. And wasn't it Christ himself who said that to enter the kingdom of heaven we must become as little children?

In this season, we are very close to the kingdom of heaven. Here's hoping you enter in.


[Image from Classy Announcements]