Two Meghans travel home from James Bay (3 photos)

The following holiday message is from Meghan Ableson (right) who teaches in a small community on the James Bay coastline.

Meghan is shown with fellow teacher Meghan Cripps as the two began their trek home for the holidays.

Meghan's e-mail - written before she departed for her hometown of Desbarats - is one of many special greetings from expatriate Saultbies that SooToday.com will be publishing over the holidays.

If you're a former resident now living 200 or more kilometres away, SooToday.com would be delighted to post your 800-word-or-less message.

It's absolutely free!

For details, click here.

********************** Our bags have been packed for almost a week now.

We’ve been checking the weather forecast for days - so far so clear.

The charter plane out of town is booked, paid for and just waiting to be loaded up with eager people who haven't stepped foot on pavement for months.

The classrooms are full of anxious students counting down the days.

The goal of the last day of school before Christmas holidays - survive!

Teachers in our Northern communities can’t wait for that first glimpse of the Mickey D’s arch or that first sip of Tim Hortons coffee.

The Swiss Chalet festive special commercials have had us salivating for weeks.

Stop lights? What are those?

Milk that costs less than 14 dollars a bag? Really?

Such are the experiences of those people living in the remote communities of North.

I am one of them.

I realize that my experience of waiting to travel home for the holidays may not be unique only to myself and others living in remote communities.

There are many people across the country and across the world living in cities experiencing the very same thing.

However, the element of isolation adds a distinct flavour to my anticipation.

I have not entered a retail store since August.

If I don’t feel like cooking, I have but one restaurant to choose from!

I am excited to go home not only to see my family, but to stock up on supplies to get me through until our next opportunity to leave the community.

I need to carefully calculate just how much paper towel and brown sugar I need to bring back with me to last for the next three months.

It shall be a busy two weeks at home.

My colleagues are my family, my neighbours and my friends.

Our houses are neatly lined up and tucked away in the far corner of the community.

We live together, work together, eat together, cry together, miss our families together and, of course, we freeze our faces in the -35 temperatures on our 10-minute walk to school every day together!

We love what we do and dedicate our expertise to the children that we teach.

Our students become part of our family as well.

They welcome us into their community.

We are granted “rock star status” upon our arrival.

While walking around the community at any given moment we will hear our names being screamed from what feels like miles away: “Hi, Miss Ableson!!!”

I often don’t know where the greeting is even coming from so I just raise a hand in acknowledgment.

If I ever end up teaching in a city I’ll miss my celebrity status!

The school is really not that different from any other school in this country at this time of year.

The students are excited for the holidays to come and teachers wearily work to calm the jitters!

The hallways are decked out with holiday crafts and the kitchen smells of delicious cookies and treats.

The gym is being decorated for the Christmas concert and students will arrive for the concert in their “Sunday best.”

Community feasts are an important part of the culture in the North.

The sharing and eating of food together is comforting.

On the last day of school before the holidays, the students and staff gather together to enjoy a Christmas meal.

The community will congregate that same evening in the same space to take part in its own meal.

Of course, the invitation is extended to teachers to partake in the feast, however many of us will be soaring away in a single-engine plane to sit down for Christmas dinner with our own families.

Inquiring minds often ask me what the atmosphere is like this time of year in the Far North.

My reply is that the feeling of Christmas is in the air, in a lot of the same ways it is at home, just with a few extra twists.

Parents here are also waiting for their college-aged children to make it home.

However unlike most families, many parents here wait for their high school-aged children to make it home since some families choose to send their teenagers to high school in “the south.”

The flights in and out of the community abound as people travel to the shopping centres to spend their saved pennies on Christmas gifts for their families that can’t be found in this small village.

Parents here can’t quickly slip over to Wal-Mart to pick up Christmas presents.

Everything must be carefully planned far in advance.

There is also the added anticipation of the opening of the winter road which will allow travel back and forth to neighbouring communities which we are isolated from most months of the year.

There are many things to look forward to!

For now I count my blessings that the weather is clear for travel.

If everything goes as planned, my cat and I will board the nine-seat plane in just over 24 hours.

When we land we will still be six hours from home.

At that point I will scrape off, and likely dig out my car from the parking lot it’s been stationed at since I left it in August.

I will open the door, put the key in the ignition and pray that it starts!

(EDITOR'S NOTE: It didn't.)

I will pacify myself with Christmas tunes as I navigate the six hours of winding highway that will lead me to my destination.

Christmas lights will welcome me up the driveway to the place I call home.

My dad will have the path shovelled and will be on cue to help carry my luggage to the door.

The fire in the wood stove and the delicious Christmas baking I’ve enjoyed since childhood will usher back a flood of memories.

The road to my family’s house nestled just outside of Sault Ste. Marie may be long, but the comfort of being home for the holidays makes it all worth it.

********************** We do news, differently

SooToday.com, is your locally owned, online source for breaking news about Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Our news staff has been recognized with national and international awards and citations from entities including the Governor-General of Canada, Canadian Association of Journalists, Canadian Association of Broadcasters, Canadian Community Newspapers Association, Radio-Television News Directors Association of Canada and the U.S. Free Press Association.

Isn't it time you made SooToday.com your home page?

Just click here and we'll make sure you're never out of the loop on all the news from your hometown.

*************************