About Us: Savor the Season
Spring, summer and fall, I run the trails through the woods behind my house. My runs give me immediate gratification: a few heart-pumping miles through the fresh air, past tittering squirrels and tweeting birds, among the buds, blooms, then the falling leaves. But when snow turns my trails to marshmallow, I’m banished to hard-packed road running.
And I hate it.
But what I hate even more—blame it on the shorter days, a busy schedule, maybe my own shortsightedness—is that some years I don’t stray back into the woods until spring.
Last winter I remembered why I shouldn’t wait: our annual Holidays Up North crafts feature. On a mission to find nature’s prettiest gifts, I set out into the snowy woods. But this time, I didn’t run.
I studied crimson berries drooping on a branch, stopped to smell the needles of an infant pine, discovered that the seeds of an alder tree look exactly like miniature pinecones. I also discovered something else that amazed me: When I wasn’t whizzing through them, the woods—even in winter—did my heart a world of good.
I gathered what I needed to make elegant crafts befitting a holiday dinner party Up North, but what I truly took home that day was a reminder of why I live here, and how even when I’m inclined to run from moment to moment, I need to stop now and again, set a more peaceful pace and appreciate the small, simple wonders of the moment I’m in.
Hopefully our offerings in Holidays Up North will help you move more calmly through the hectic holiday season. Our easy craft suggestions and guides to gifts and local events are intended to make your celebration as uncomplicated and special as a holiday Up North should be. So page through slowly, pick what appeals, then go and experience the wonders of this season in Northern Michigan. Just trust me: When you do, walk. Don’t run.
Lynda Twardowski, Holidays Up North editor
Holidays Up North is produced by the same international-award-winning team that produces Traverse, Northern Michigan's Magazine, Northern Home & Cottage and Destination Northern Michigan.
