Walking in Snow

It's Christmas time, and Arlo is on a break from school. It is one of Arlo's favorite times of year because he likes being at home. He looks forward to Christmas all year. He enjoys wondering about the presents he's going to get. He likes making presents for the people in his family. He likes the break most of all because he gets to visit his Uncle Michael and Aunt Tracy.

Uncle Michael and Aunt Tracy live in Montana. Every Christmas Arlo's family flies to Montana to visit them. They live in a small town in the mountains. Uncle Michael and Aunt Tracy have a really neat house. It's like a big log cabin. They have a lot of bedrooms and three fireplaces! They have a really big porch, too.

When Arlo visits, there is always snow at their house. Arlo loves the snow. That's because he doesn't see much snow at home. He has a great time making snowmen and getting into snowball fights with Uncle Michael.

One day, Uncle Michael asked Arlo to go to the store with him. Arlo asked his uncle if he could drive the truck.

"We're going to walk," Uncle Michael said.

Arlo laughed and told his uncle that it was hard to walk in deep snow. Uncle Michael said he had something that would help.

"They're called snowshoes," he said.

Uncle Michael helped Arlo put on the snowshoes. They were like big, flat platforms that strapped to Arlo's boots.

"Why are they so wide?" Arlo asked.