Laura Keller-Wolff, author, and her daughter, Alaina Szlachta, are sharing stories of Christmas. Photo provided

BY PHIL CUSTODIO
Clarkston News Editor
In the story “A Christmas carol — it’s a family tradition on Perry Lake Road,” chronicling the caroling traditions of the William Keller family in the Dec. 22, 1993, edition of The Clarkston News, the Keller children promised to carry on the tradition wherever they go.
For Laura Keller-Wolff, now an author, that promise continues to resonate in her life.
“My daughter and I are embarking on a book tour throughout the Pacific Northwest and in Michigan,” Keller-Wolff said. “I was reminded again of the contagious excitement of caroling this past Thanksgiving holiday. On our book tour, my daughter and I found ourselves in downtown Seattle at a Christmas tree lighting, singing spontaneously to Dean Martin and Bing Crosby, finding the young kids next to us happily singing along.”
All her holiday traditions over the years seem to stem from the simple ones her parents created, such as going to the local tree farm, searching for the perfect tree, and sipping hot cocoa afterwards, she said.
“And the winter events that took us outside, from stringing lights to making snow-forts. I’ve come to believe that tradition allows us to embrace a living presence again and again,” she said.
The author, born and raised in Clarkston, is releasing a new book, “Reimagining Christmas: Discoveries of a Christmas Self, chronicling a search for the meaning of Christmas in the face of my father’s death.”
The memoir invites readers to reflect on what makes the holidays inspirational for us all.
“Unfortunately, because our parents relocated in 2000 from Clarkston to a remote property in Davisburg, it became difficult to carry on the Christmas caroling tradition,” said Keller-Wolff, who is currently living in Lakeside, Montana, near Glacier National Park. She moved to the Flathead Valley from Michigan in 1994.
“However, the impact of caroling in my life followed me to Hawaii (I moved there for a couple years in 1991-1993) where my daughter and I led a Christmas caroling group through our neighborhood, including a new carol to our repertoire: ‘Mele Kalikimaka,’” she said.
Their first Christmas in Montana in 1994, they also led a group of carolers.
“I was fortunate enough to find a fellow caroler who drove an old horse-drawn hay wagon and he delivered us to a local nursing home – a perfect spot for caroling,” she said.
Her new book asks the question, What is hidden within the traditions of Christmas, buried beneath the glitz and frenzied demands of the season?
“I believe the music at Christmas holds a sweet kind of elixir—we hear it and something happens inside us, a reminder of the awe and wonder around us,” she said. “We can choose to leave it at Christmas caroling or allow that sweetness to overflow into the rest of our lives. The new book I’ve written is evidence of that overflowing possibility. If we step back from all the frenzy and the glitz, we may find that simple magic waiting to be reclaimed.”
The memoir narrates Keller-Wolff’s journey facing the first holiday season after the death of her father, who embodied the magic and soul of Christmas for their family. Searching for what is real, what is genuine about Christmas, she interviewed three generations of her family, inviting them to reflect on their favorite holiday traditions and memories; exploring how these experiences extended, strengthened, and deepened the imaginative power within their lives.
On a cross-country book tour, Keller-Wolff and her daughter, Alaina Szlachta, are encouraging everyone to reflect – to reimagine – what makes the holidays inspirational for us all. Their book showcase will be at Barnes and Noble, 2800 S. Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, on Dec. 13 from 7-9 p.m. Share your holiday story at laurakeller-wolff/reimaginingchristmas.com.