Snowballs in New Leaf

In December, snow begins to appear in New Leaf.  I first found that it would appear in scattered showers, with only a mild covering on the trees and bushes, and a small dusting on the ground.  As the days passed, however, I began to discover Snowballs.  Snowballs are part of every Animal Crossing game and are a means by which one can make the acquaintance of magical snow persons.  In all previous games, there was only one such person in the form of the Snowman.  Create the Snowman by rolling two snowballs together and he might bestow a special gift upon you.  The gift was sent through the post the next day in those games.

Imagine my surprise then when my first such effort in New Leaf produced a Snow Mam rather than a Man and instead of promising a gift, she requested snowflakes.  Snowflakes are another new option and I had caught snowflakes in my net prior to my meeting with the Snow Mam but after carrying them in my pockets for a few days, I finally sold them for 500 Bells each as they could not be placed nor stored.

In New Leaf, giving three snowflakes to the Snow Mam will result in a gift of an item from the exquisite Ice Series.  The wall and floor are particularly lovely but the furniture is magical as well as each piece has a snowflake engraved upon it.  Snowflake symbols actually WERE considered magical runes by the ancients, especially those who dealt with bindrunes.  As I studied comparative mythology and specialised in the Northern traditions, I was especially thrilled by the new Ice Series.

There are two aspects to the Snow Mam mini-game that are very pleasing.  First, you can collect Snowflakes and make the trade as many times as you wish, provided always that you can find the random snowflakes in your village.  Second, she appears never to duplicate items but will give you the whole collection, one item at a time, in sequence.  Finally, she did not melt in 24 hours in my village but survived into a second day,  giving me more opportunities to complete the series.