Christmas Letter to Our Friends and Family

Susan and I wanted to take a moment to wish you all peace, love and happiness. We also wanted to fill you in on changes in our own lives.

I had been planning the great escape for a number of years. I wouldn’t call it retirement by any means, but I would call it lifestyle change. When Dylan headed to Banff, and Debbie headed to Lakehead University, there was nothing holding us back. Sue and I put the schoolhouse up for sale, and began looking to Near North Ontario. We had so many ideas and so many possibilities. We looked in towns, we looked out of town, we looked at farms, we looked at camps, we looked at stores, we left no stone unturned. In the end, we ended up with a dream home on the Sturgeon River.

We have been here for 4 months now and feel quite at home. Although we are only 5 minutes from town, we rarely leave our place......there is no reason to! We have everything we need here. We have a boat and a dock and some great fishing. We have an ATV and access 1000’s of acres of crown land. I have an icehut which is sitting on the edge of the river right now, waiting to see use. We have a nice big property with lots of grass to cut and Sue has a nice new John Deere lawn tractor. I now have a small art and music studio with a most amazing view of the river. We think our house is spectacular with a circular stone living room/kitchen and stone fireplace. From all windows we see water, and trees. We have awesome neighbours too!

Sturgeon Falls is a Northern Ontario French community situated between North Bay and Sudbury. The town is very friendly and the people are caring. We helped at the local food drive and the town raised almost 10 tons of food for the food bank! The high school students all went door to door collecting and then formed a human chain, passing 8 tons of food, from hand to hand until it reached the basement of a local church. Now thats community spirit! Sturgeon Falls has 2 Tim Hortons and a Country style, McDonalds and A&W, Mr Sub, Subway, Kentucky Fried chicken...all these things we don’t bother to eat! There is a Canadian Tire, 3 grocery stores, 2 lumber yards, several gas stations...we have it all!!!!! Also, our camp in western Temagami is now only 1.25 hours from home....a mere 80Klicks!

We hope our happiness is shining through for you all to see! From joyful and thankful hearts we wish you ALL the greatest of blessings! We extend our hand of friendship and love to you ALL. We want you to know that you are always welcome here in our home. We have spare bedrooms and lots of room. Our home can be your home if you would come to visit us. Though we have a bright new future, we do have a past, full of memories and friendships. We remember and miss all of you.

Love always,
Don and Sue Wright