Ever present in our snow globe memories are the citizens of each unique globe land. In a favorite snow globe, Rudolph and his shiny nose leads Santa Claus through snowy evergreens sparkling with decoration, tiny Austrian villages and train carriages twisting though the landscape on miniscule tracks. In another, Minny and Mickey Mouse are kissing on a sled; more recently, Baby Yoda waves from a Star Wars speeder soaring through a wintry scene.

As children, we imagined what other children around the world were gazing at as we peered into snow globes: did they see what we saw? Did their gaze and imagination bring their snow globe to life as ours did? As Halloween and its candied memories faded, Christmas and Winter approached. Our scribbled and specific lists to Santa and his helpers began to grow … and grow! Thanksgiving arrived, a feast of a pause between grinning pumpkins and jocular elves, before our neighborhoods and towns exploded in artificial snow and greenery, twinkling rainbows of light draped on every toy in the storefronts, every lamp pole on city streets and every eave and rooftop on our neighbors’ homes.

Winter is the first upturned face of delight as snowflakes drift earthward, to briefly chill and softly melt on human skin. The first blizzard to close the schools, the cheers of delight of our snowy freedom as we raced for the best sledding hill, the perfect name for our laboriously constructed snowman, the sighs of mothers faced with endless icy boots traipsing through the kitchen and gallons of hot chocolate.

And Winter’s other gift, ice, brings with its sparkling gift a note of caution, to ‘be careful where you tread’ and the ominous allure as we cautiously tested our weight and skates against the depth of enticing ice glimmering on lakes and ponds.

At sea, winter glazes with frozen indifference ice-thickened lanyards and cables and sailors sing chanties of brave captains and crew and the fiercest pirates, dooming those who dared to brave the frigid waves and howling winter winds.

Winter holidays within the arctic circle in Norway and Finland abound with reindeer, huskies and sleighrides, fjords, mountains and glaciers, snowmobiles, igloos and the Northern Lights, the season’s occasional gloom lifted by a parting of clouds and welcome shafts of warming winter sunlight.

To one and all, Winter affects us in so many different ways but are, also, so much the same, as can be seen in each of our compositions for this, our first, collaboration for the DIY Hard and Discord Musicians.

Look deep into this Snow Globe and see what you can see…………

Photo © 2020 Tobias Bjerknes

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A poem from author Catherine Tricarico:

The sound of the wind rattles the bare trees and carries into my home. It seeps into my anxious mind.

The year was long and filled with challenges, filled with solitude and creativity. The days were long, and the nights were too. Everything seemed old but felt new. And now Winter is there, gray and cold. I light candles, hoping and yearning for warmth. Wishing away the chills out of my bones.

I am cuddled in a blanket of myself and silence, staring outside. Staring, looking, searching. A content sigh escapes my lips; I swallow it down with a sip of steaming hot tea. Somewhere in this chaos sleeps something beautiful, I am sure.

My thought are interrupted by the music playing softly in the background. The music is soothing, beautiful. Its sounds caress my soul deep from within.

Snowflakes float from the sky, dancing until they find their place on the cold ground. And a moment later, the world is hidden under a thin layer of silent hope.

The old year is ready to become a memory of the past and invite a new beginning. A promise that stays the same every Winter.

[Catherine Tricarico is a Luxembourgish author and poet, who writes from a passionate heart in her own unique style. “Unquiet Minds” and “Drowning In A Sea of Voices” are her books of poetry. She is also the author of the novel “Heart of Stone,” published in July 2020. All are available on Amazon.]