Reader Response Requested:

Shortly before Christmas of 1979, I was faced with the sad duty of informing the world that Frosty the Snowman had died.

The holiday season started out quite beautifully for a four year old girl; I wanted a Barbie doll and Barbie clothes and everything else featured in the commercials that played between episodes of Superman and Wonder Woman cartoons that year and I floated through life with a small child’s confidence that every item I desired would mystically appear under the tree courtesy of Santa Claus.

In the meantime, every relative I visited had cookies, beautiful lights dotted my tiny hometown and my beloved superhero cartoons were supplemented with evening Christmas specials; I watched Snoopy and Rudolph and the Little Drummer Boy with glee, convinced it was all just more evidence of the magic of the season.

Then “Frosty the Snowman” came on. I was entranced from the beginning; all it took was one simple little magic hat, and the snowman these children built transformed into a special friend. Pennsylvania gets a ton of snow, and most of my male relatives had hats. Surely if I put them together in just the right way, I too could have a snowy friend for life. Pondering just which hat might contain the correct magic to make a snowman live forever, I lost track of the story for just a bit. When I re-focused my attention on the screen, I was crushed to realize Frosty had melted.

“Frosty’s dead!” I screamed. “He’s dead!”

“No, no, no,” argued my Grandma Helen. “He melted. He comes back when the winter comes back.” Now, Helen was quite magical herself. When she picked up pieces of fabric and thread, dolls, doll clothing, and stuffed animals formed right out of the air around her hands, chalky ceramic statues turned lifelike when she painted them, and when she said “shut up,” everybody did….even my Grandpa Buster.

Normally, I would have accepted Helen’s wisdom on these things. But she was downstairs in the kitchen. I was up in the living room in front of the television. I saw the puddle on the screen, and Frosty most certainly did not get back up out of it. He melted and the news came on. Everybody knew that when the news came on, things were over. Frosty was dead.

“Frosty died!” I informed everyone I saw. “He’s dead!” Most people listened patiently, gave me a comforting smile then quietly asked Helen and Buster or my parents what was wrong with me before continuing their normal conversation. They just didn’t understand my heartbreak over the loss of my hoped-for magical friend.

After my third or fortieth grief –filled announcement of Frosty’s tragic demise, Helen’s niece Dolores decided to prove to me once and for all that Frosty was not dead. Web pages and DVDs were still about two decades away, but children’s stories were often available on vinyl records, and Frosty the Snowman was in stores for the season. Dolores purchased a copy and surprised me the next time I visited her home.

“Look!” she beamed. “It’s Frosty. Frosty’s not dead!”

Now if Helen didn’t know what she was talking about, I certainly was not going to believe some record that just came out of Woolworth’s or Kmart yesterday. That wasn’t Frosty. That was just some annoying kid singing about Frosty and how he died.

“Frosty!” I wailed repeatedly. “Frosty’s dead!” I’m told Dolores still feels bad about that day.

By the time Christmas of 1979 arrived, I had come to accept the idea that Frosty was not dead. Once I calmed down a bit, I did begin to see him everywhere. He popped up in yards around the Pittsburgh metro area from time to time, and hung out to brighten up windows and store displays at the mall. By the following Christmas, he was indeed back on my television screen again. I admit I have not seen Frosty much this year, but unlike my four-year old self, I would like to think that “Frosty” may be melted, but he is not dead.

Do you know someone who thinks Frosty is dead? Do you know anyone who is having a bad time this holiday season or going through a tough time in general? Is there a friend or family member you have simply lost touch with and miss, or who you want to speak to but aren’t sure they’re getting the message?

Tell them this holiday season! Simply post a comment to this column beginning with the line: Frosty Is Not Dead: then type your message.

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