Holiday traffic is a sure thing during December. Many travelers eager to get to grandma’s house for Christmas dinner find themselves inching along the highway with little luck of making better time. Jingles on the radio and felted reindeer antlers stuck to the windows add a little seasonal cheer to the situation, but there’s little joy to be found in bumper-to-bumper.

While friends and family members gather around the fire, lonely drivers may find themselves cursing for not taking the train. They might have been better off sardined in with other straphangers and not stuck off-roading over unplowed streets and trying to parallel park between mounds of ever-accumulating snow. Winter Wonderlands really aren’t the friendliest environment for four-wheelers, but one has to “be home for Christmas” somehow.

While some may be hoping to find a truck or SUV with a big red bow standing in the driveway on Christmas morning, those lucky few may ultimately find themselves regretting not asking Santa for a commuter pass. Driving can be as much of a pain as a blessing, especially during the winter when snowy conditions make commuting even more complicated. Digging out driveways and braving icy roads are just two of the joys of the season when you live somewhere where a white Christmas is more of a frozen reality and less of a seasonal jingle.

Drivers in the United Kingdom found themselves miserably rolling along a snow-covered expressway in December 2022. While the scene may have been familiar to many motorists, those with keen eyes would have spied one detail that made this particular stretch of icy highway truly unique during the Christmas season.

For Illustration Purposes Only (With Models) – istockphoto.com/MarianVejcik

A familiar character made an appearance on the roads around Central London in December. While cars full of frustrated commuters tried to inch home on the night Dec. 11, 2022, some saw not a traffic cop nor a driver fixing a flat standing on the two-lane highway, but the icy creation of some particularly bored motorist.

Frosty the Snowman, himself, seemed to be carved out of the snow that had collected along the motorway. The figure stood tall as a man, without a corncob pipe, button nose, or two eyes made out of coal, but the idea was still there. Someone had somehow built a convincing snowman amidst the traffic. Just how a driver (maybe with the help of some rather spirited passengers) managed to roll a bottom, torso, and head out of the thin layer of snow that covered the road is a mystery, but the result was impressive.

One motorist slowed down, not enough to craft some icy creation of her own, but to snap at least a quick picture of the wayward snowman as it stood fearless between passing cars. They later tweeted about the unusual sighting, pointing out how “someone made a snowman in the middle of the A406  #snow #uksnow.” No other photos of the oddly placed snowman have surfaced since, but this one image captured the Christmas spirit of social media overnight.

Other gridlocked Londoners, who’d seen the snowman, replied, writing about how much their drive was brightened by Frosty’s guest appearance. One wrote, “I drove right past this was hilarious!” Others seemed to accept the snowman’s position, writing, “Well with all the traffic they had time!!”