A warm Christmas greeting from snowy northern Minnesota!
As many of you know, our property was devastated a year ago in a forest fire. We watched as the flames took our cabins, our history, our livelihood.
I had no idea it might be the beginning of a string of farewells.
John and I found ourselves —expectedly, of course —with an empty nest this year. And while I’d prepared for it, the swiftness with which it swept into my life, like the turning of the seasons from autumn to the stiff winds of winter, took my breath away.
We bid Amelia good-bye at the airport in Minneapolis, bound for a year of education in Prague, and I returned to the emptiness and winter in my heart.
Not that I didn’t have joy. With Darek and Ivy’s wedding Memorial Day weekend, and Eden’s celebration of marriage to Jace Jacobsen (the former captain of the St. Paul Blue Ox who is now on their coaching staff), I delighted in welcoming two new children to the family. We’re thrilled that Grace, our family chef, has also found her true love, as she is engaged to Maxwell Sharpe. (You know him as a wing for the Blue Ox.)
However, we also said good-bye to Casper as he headed to Roatán, Honduras, to seek treasure in an archaeological dig, and to Owen, who is finding new footing.
And then we lost our beloved Butterscotch. It felt like too many good-byes.
But that’s the magic of a good-bye —it makes way for something new. An unexpected hello.
We love living in the north because the seasons are ever changing. But there also remains a constant. It’s a miracle how, when an evergreen burns, the pinecones burst open, dropping seeds into the fertile soil of the charred land. Saplings now edge our property, sprouts of green against the white landscape.
In the wake of good-byes, life endures. Even flourishes.
New life came first in the form of our nephew Romeo, who stayed with us this fall and during the Christmas season. And then in the news that John and I will be welcoming another grandbaby —Darek and Ivy are expecting in the spring.
But more than that, all this sudden room in our lives allowed John and me to take a full breath. To find ourselves in the midst of the winter landscape surrounded by beautiful, tender evergreens, look at each other, and say, “Hello. You’re still here?”
Indeed, we are. Flourishing in the fertile soil of our years together.
We’re headed to Europe this Valentine’s Day to renew our vows, leaving the newly reopened resort in our eldest son’s capable hands. And then back to the resort for a new season.
Come and visit us! We’re waiting with a warm hello.
With love from Evergreen Resort,
Ingrid and John Christiansen