A Russian Christmas Eve miracle on Montreal's South Shore: A blizzard, a newborn and a welcoming stranger
On Jan. 5, as Zlata Karataev was preparing for Russian Christmas Eve and a blizzard raged outside, a shivering couple with a one-day-old baby knocked on her door in Mercier, Que.
She didn't think twice about asking them in.
By the end of the evening, with whiteout conditions forcing her own husband to ditch his car and walk 30 minutes in the blinding snow to make it home, Karataev had welcomed in six strangers, making dinner and finding places for everyone to sleep overnight.
"That's actually a warmth in my heart that I can do that," she said. "I just opened my door and welcomed everybody."
Karataev's street was nearly impassable during the height of the storm, and even first responders and police were staying off the roads except for emergency situations.
"You can't fight with Mother Nature," she said. "People are stuck, and they have nowhere to go, so the only thing they can do is knock on my door."
Karataev, the mother of two young daughters, aged one and three, offered the new parents diapers — and even her own breastmilk, as the new parents had run out of formula and the baby's mother wasn't yet producing milk of her own.
"At least I am still breastfeeding a bit, so I can feed the baby," she said.
Her neighbours were quick to pitch in, as well, bringing over bread, meat and cookies to help feed the unexpected visitors.
"That was really amazing," she told CBC.
Karataev's husband, Mathieu Loiselle, tried to rush home, once he learned his house was brimming with travellers in need of help.
But he encountered his own problems on the road; his vehicle stuck in the snow, he abandoned it and made the trek on foot.
"He walked in that blizzard for, like, half an hour," said Karataev.
A warm welcome
While the new mother, Jany Gilbert, wasn't up for an interview, she did tell CBC via text message that she was grateful for the assistance.
"They were really kind to us," she said.
Gilbert, who lives in Saint-Chrysostome about 30 kilometres from Mercier, was returning from the hospital where her son had been born just the day before, on Jan. 4.
After spending the night with Karataev and her family, the couple called a friend with a tractor to help clear the road, so they could get home.
