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The “world’s oldest snowball” will celebrate 50 years frozen in time — and is now a treasured family heirloom.
The snowball was created on February 5, 1976, in San Jose, California, when Jeff Shamus was just 15 and experiencing snowfall for the first time in his life — a rare event in the Santa Clara Valley.
When the snow began to melt, Shamus, now 64, grabbed a handful and put it in the freezer, never imagining it would still exist nearly 50 years later.
At the time, Shamus’ mother Betty decided to keep the snowball, storing it first in a Dixie cup before transferring it into an empty Skippy peanut butter jar.
It remained tucked away in the back of the family freezer until her death in 2017 at 84.
Now in 2026, Shamus is still preserving the unusual heirloom in his own freezer in Sparks, Nevada, where he moved after his mother died.
Reflecting on the snowball today brings him straight back to that winter day in his childhood, he said: “Honestly, it takes me back to being 14 years old and seeing snow in my own yard for the first time.
“I remember how excited I was – -we all ran outside, made a snowman, had snowball fights. It was this magical moment that almost never happens in San Jose.”
He added: “When the snow started melting, I didn’t want it to end, so I grabbed some off the lawn and put it in the freezer.
“I never imagined my mom would keep it for a week — let alone the next 40+ years until she passed away in 2017.
“Looking at it now, it’s this weird mix of nostalgia for that day and appreciation for the fact that she thought it was worth preserving. It’s such a mom thing to do.”
Shamus, a software developer, said his mother quietly saved things that mattered to her children.
“My mom was sentimental in the best way – she saved things that mattered to us kids, even if they seemed silly to anyone else,” Shamus said.
“I think she kept the snowball because it represented a rare, happy moment we shared as a family.
“Snow in San Jose was practically unheard of, and seeing her teenage son so excited about it probably made her want to preserve that memory.”
He added: “She wasn’t overly dramatic about it — it just lived in the back of the freezer for decades.
“But the fact that she quietly kept it all those years says everything about the kind of person she was.”
Over time, the snowball has changed, forming ice crystals and softening into what Shamus has previously described as more of a “snow blob” than a snowball.
“I wouldn’t say we think about it in those grand terms day-to-day. It’s just… there,” he said.
“But when anniversaries like this come around, or when I had to move it from California to Nevada and pack it carefully in dry ice, it does feel like this odd thread connecting our family across time.
“It’s not a wedding ring or a photo album, but it’s ours.”
He added: “And yeah, the fact that my mom kept it for over 40 years until she passed in 2017 — and now I’ve kept it going toward the 50-year mark – makes it feel more significant than just a frozen ball of snow.”
Preserving it hasn’t always been easy, particularly during power outages and moves.
“We’ve had a couple of close calls over the years – power outages where we had to scramble to get dry ice and wrap it up to keep it frozen,” he said.
“When I moved from San Jose to Reno, I packed it in dry ice for the trip and honestly stressed about it the whole way.
“The first thing we think about during a power outage isn’t the food in the freezer — it’s the snowball.
He added: “At this point, losing it would feel like losing a piece of family history, as ridiculous as that sounds.”
Shamus hopes the snowball will one day pass to the next generation, even if its meaning isn’t fully understood yet.
“I have two adult children, and they don’t get it at all,” he said. “They grew up in places where snow is normal, so the idea of preserving a snowball for 50 years doesn’t compute for them.
“But I think once it’s theirs, they’ll get it. When people pass away, they usually leave their kids money, jewelry, houses – my kids are getting the world’s oldest snowball in a Skippy peanut butter jar.”
Shamus added: “Whether they appreciate it now or not, it’ll be theirs to preserve – or finally let melt. I’m hoping for the former.”
