Ice Lanterns

We think our son Dan is turning into a vampire! He has pale skin and shuns the light, we can't get him outside in daytime and he's fascinated with pretty girls.

We have plenty of snow and you might think we would be out playing in it: No hope. Hanna and I had to take turns to go out and play, but after a day of school-closures and the boredom of being locked up with his parents, Dan was looking forward to the arrival of fresh blood. Due to very icy roads, his carers didn't come and he was stuck with us; melt-down was inevitable and fragile objects started to have flying lessons. The evening was going decidedly pear-shaped.

Suddenly, when it was really dark and the temperature was beginning to drop towards -7 º C, Dan himself pulled up short and asked to go out. We leapt at the opportunity and even persuaded him to dress appropriately.

His unfamiliar attire (apart from the familiar basics) consisted of his grandfather's duck-hunting boots from LL Bean in Freeport, Maine; his dad's gnarly, snowboarder's fleece jerkin and his big brother's skater-boy, black parka. He would look cool in an American teen-flick.

After the obligatory snow-ball fight and the chase round the garden we recued the fallen snow-witch and, with the addition of a few night-lights, made her into "The Alien Queen of Winter Light". Her head was made from the ice that formed within a frozen flower-pot.

The idea of warm light emanating from deeply frozen snow seemed to be contradictory, but try it, it works.