Minnesota Prairie Roots

“IT’S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!” declared 7-year-old Isabelle as she hugged me tight, her bright smile making this moment even brighter.

It was Christmas Eve afternoon and a circle of family gathered in our small kitchen for a moment of profound happiness. My second daughter and her husband, John, had minutes earlier arrived from Madison, Wisconsin. Unexpectedly.

I felt overcome by emotion, my heart brimming with the joy of a mother who did not expect her second daughter home for Christmas. And now here Miranda stood aside her dad and her niece and her sobbing mother. I cried tears of happiness that all three of my adult children were here, in their southern Minnesota childhood home, together for Christmas. Amber from nearby Lakeville. Caleb from Boston. And now Miranda from Madison, 4 ½ hours away. Rare are the times we are all together. I hadn’t seen Caleb in a year.

Izzy certainly got it right. This felt like a Christmas miracle. That she could witness her grandma’s unrestrained happiness was a gift, too, for my sweet granddaughter to understand how strong and deep the bonds of family love. I never stop missing my kids, even though the first left for college in 2004, the last in 2012.

And now here we all were, under the same roof again, only because Miranda managed a day off from delivering mail and packages. Christmas Eve morning she was dressed in her postal uniform, had packed her lunch and was about to head out the door for a long day of work when her phone rang. Her supervisor was calling to say she didn’t need to come in. She shared the good news with John and told him, “We’re going to Minnesota!”

Miranda texted her sister and the two agreed to keep her arrival a secret. That explains why, when I suggested to Amber that the grandkids open their gifts soon after arriving at our house, she wanted to wait. I had no clue, none, of the joyful surprise that awaited me.

We were visiting in the living room, the kids playing, when I heard the kitchen door open and then Miranda’s voice. I felt my mouth drop in disbelief. I leapt from my chair and made a beeline straight for my daughter and wrapped her in a vise of a hug. I felt my eyes filling with tears. I was overwhelmed by love, by happiness, by the joy of knowing we would all be together for Christmas.

There’s nothing better. Nothing better than to be with loved ones. I expect, years from now, that we’ll still be talking about the Christmas surprise, the Christmas miracle, as Isabelle framed it. I hope that, years from now long after she’s forgotten the dinosaur sticker book and the LEGO set Grandma and Grandpa gave her, Isabelle remembers that moment in the kitchen. The moment when Grandma wrapped Izzy’s Aunt Miranda in her arms and cried. And the moment when Izzy tucked into my embrace, her face beaming, and loudly declared, “It’s a Christmas miracle!”

© Copyright 2023 Audrey Kletscher Helbling