Summary of "Let it Snow", by David Sedaris

In a perfect world, we find that parents love their children, children respect and mind their parents, and ample, positive attention is given to both parties.

However, in this short story by David Sedaris, we find that a mother, whose only vacation is while the children are at school, becomes overwhelmed by the prolonged attendance of her children during an unusually heavy snow.

After barring the children from their own home, and refusing their re-entry, the mother turns to alcohol and television to help cope with the unidentified internal conflict she’s facing. Maddened, the children decide to take action, and come to the understanding that sacrificing a sibling is the only way of getting back inside.

A passing motorist uncovers the children’s plan, and the reader must assume, reveals to the mother that the children have planned to get her attention with the harm of the youngest sibling. Having done the job, this causes the mother to trek through the snow, over a hill, to the children.

Having gone from being watched by their mother to being purged into nature had caused some resentment, but upon seeing their mother in eight inches of snow and missing a shoe, they decided that helping her get back to the house quickly would result in the comfort of all.