When I was a little boy, around the same time as My Precious, the houses across the street from us backed a creek and there was a hill. The hill was not that large, last time I checked it out about 10 years ago on a holiday back home to Winnipeg. Now me, being only 5 at the time It seemed like Mount Everest.

We would have a big community winter BBQ every year. Roast wieners and marshmallows on the fire, sit around in snow chairs carved out of the frosty cold white stuff. There was games and friendly family competitions. One year was a year I would never forget.

This one year It was particularly crazy cold, it would freeze the nuts off a moose. It was a crazy cold year but being crazy Canadians we still had our winter carnival. The pond was frozen over and the fresh snow was scraped clean. Kids and parents alike could ice skate till they got too cold, then would skate over to 1 of 5 big steel drums cut out into a make shift fire barrel to warm up their frozen appendage’s.

My sister and I just got a large wooden toboggan for Christmas from Santa that we were dying to try out. We would go down the hill like a rocket, almost as if we had Clark’s special lubricant from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Then after our rocket toboggan ride, we hike back up and do it again and again. I would run and warm up by the fire. My mom would cool me a hot dog, squeeze ketchup on it and pass it to me

“here you go Gordie, don’t spill”

“ I know mom, I’m always careful”

“MOM!!

My sister and I must of went down the hill a 1000 times, well, probably 20... But felt like a 1000 ! We would play pin the tail on the abominable snow man that one of our neighbors carved out of snow. Neither of us could get it but I really wanted that pack of sour candies SO bad.

Late in the day, by this point I’m cracked out on sugar I’m sure. I was waiting for my mom to cook me a S’more and wandered over to another barrel to warm my hands. Well I wasn’t paying attention like I should ... POOF and my fluffy mittens go up in flames.

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