Emily Lingaur comes from a family not only rich in history, but also traditions that she now passes down to her daughter, Astrid.
Raised in Leelanau County her whole life, Emily, 25, grew up with her two older sisters, Shelbie and Savannah (Nina), in the noticeable two-story home situated just across from the Knot Just a Bar restaurant in Omena. Within walking distance is also Tamarack Gallery, the small U.S. Post Office, and the Omena Bay Country Store. The home has been in the Lingaur and Smith family for over a century since it was first built in the late 1800s, and while the area has seen its fair share of changes over the years, one thing has remained constant: the Lingaur’s raising and passing on family traditions to the next generation.
With Christmas almost here, Emily and Astrid, 5, are embracing all of the traditions she used to love as a child, including placing a little handcrafted mailbox in their Christmas tree. Inside the hand-stitched craft there’s only enough room for a piece of candy and a note. In anticipation of the big day, Emily is making sure to have it filled with a sweet note and piece of candy as often as she can for her own daughter — something Astrid seems to find just as amusing as her mother, Emily, did when she was younger.
“My mom had this little mailbox and when I was kid, she’d put little notes in it. Around Christmas time, she’d hang it on the tree because it’s an ornament, and she’d put a little message in it like ‘have a great day,’ then put the little flag up so I would know there was something in it when I came downstairs. I do that with Astrid now,” Emily said. “You don’t realize how much the joy of Christmas brings until you become a mom and you can see that joy in your kid’s eyes.”
Emily said she’s doing a lot of the activities her mother taught her with Astrid these days, including gardening and visiting the beach in the summertime, baking in the kitchen, and reading different books daily. She’s also found time to incorporate exploring the county with Astrid through various child-friendly hiking trails in the warm months.
“It seems like just yesterday she was a baby,” she said. “I got her an easy-bake oven for Christmas, and I’m hoping she likes it because that was like a gateway for me and I bake a lot… Books like ‘The Legend of the Candy Cane’ — that’s her favorite Christmas book and that was my favorite Christmas book.”
Astrid is currently a kindergartner at Lake Leelanau St. Mary’s, a slightly different path Emily took when she went to grade school. Emily went to several different schools in her elementary years, but ultimately graduated from Leland Public School, in which she attended since 5th grade. After graduating from high school, she soon became pregnant with Astrid, and took a year off before starting college at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC). There, Emily would finish her general education credits to ready herself for the dental hygiene program at Ferris State University in Big Rapids. Emily said the specialized program that she chose to study should start next year in the fall if all goes as planned, while Astrid will stay with grandparents, Jeff and Sheila, as she works to complete her degree/certification.
“My parents are letting me go down there and keeping Astrid up here so it’s not like uprooting her, then I’ll also be in school and she’ll be in school too,” she said. “I’ve never worked in a dental office before, but I worked at the Dam Candy Store in Leland for a while, then I switched to Carlson’s just last year — I have a lot of help.”
The name “Astrid” is of Scandinavian origin, Emily said, and means divinely beautiful and strong. It all seemed like a perfect fit for Emily’s daughter seeing as both sides of her family were part Norwegian and that her daughter was all of those descriptors and more.
“She (Astrid) is very strong and very beautiful,” she said. “It’s been really fun (watching her grow), but she also has my attitude, so I’ll look at my mom and she’ll say ‘you were just like that, that’s what I had to deal with’ or ‘she’s just a little Emily.’” Although Emily has to finish her studies in Big Rapids and away from Omena, she said it’s a dream of hers to own some acreage of her own for livestock and gardening when she’s older, whether that be in Leelanau or not. Despite housing being limited, family is the biggest reason why she’d love to make it work and have her own home in Leelanau someday.
“All my family is here, my (late) grandpa Jon (Smith) is here, my grandma, my parents, aunts and uncles, everyone… I’ll say ‘I’m Jon Smith’s granddaughter,’ and people will be like ‘I know him,’” she said. “This is home.”
