Small white snowflakes began to fall that night. They swirled through the sky and coated every surface in white radience. The cold wind that came with the flakes may have bothered some people, but there was at least one who loved it.
Claire sat on a lawn chair on the back porch of her house, wrapped in a quilt with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in her hands. She breathed in deeply, enjoying how the warm smell of the hot chocolate mixed with the fresh, clean scent of the snowy night. Tomorrow, she knew, her brother Joshua would come running out of the house with his sled and spend the day dashing about, his wild energy almost tangable. But that would all be tomorrow. For now, she was content to sit in the peaceful silence, watching the snow come down. Claire was about to take another sip of her hot chocolate when she heard a noise. She paused, listening closely. Perhaps it was just her imagination. After all, who else would be out at this time of night? No, wait, there it was again. A soft thumping, coming from just inside the house. With a sinking heart, Claire realized that the thumping sounded just like footsteps, muffled by dinosaur slippers of the sort that only her second-grader brother would wear. So much for peace and quiet.
"Hi, Claire," he said, opening the door and stepping outside. "What'cha doin'?
"Watching the snow," she said quietly, not wanting to break the peace of the moment, even though Joshua would probably break it in a moment anyways.
To her surprise, he didn't. He stood there for a few seconds, then asked, "Can I watch, too?"
Claire paused, startled by his unusual request. "Sure," she said at last, holding up the edge of her quilt for him to crawl under. He did so willingly, for once not complaining about "girl cooties". He even leaned against her a little. They remained like that for as long as they could stand the cold, a snowy hush enveloping them both.