How a family's precious heirlooms were returned by a Sask. woman 9 years after they were lost in a move

Emily Robertson never thought she'd see her wedding photos again.

Following her mechanical engineer husband to many locations throughout North America, Robertson was used to the odd box or two going missing. It happened a few times before.

In 2013, when the couple relocated from Calgary to Denver, Colo., Robertson soon noticed a box with her wedding photos and a collection of original paintings from her husband's late uncle were missing.

"Those paintings, you can never get back. Uncle Jack was gone. We'd never met him. Aunt Nancy had been so kind and gracious to share those with us when we got married. And we loved them," Robertson said.

The painting of a sunflower was of particular importance to Robertson and her husband. Having lived in Kansas when it was given to them, the state flower always reminded them of their past. The painting of a mountain reminded them of their time in and around the Rockies.

Robertson called the moving company she hired, and they couldn't offer any help. After a while she conceded she'd likely never see the paintings again.

"It was probably in some thrift store, maybe in some random house," she said. "Someone else enjoying it, but that's all we could have hoped for."

Around the same time, Luz Swanson and her husband were moving from Magnolia, Texas back to Saskatchewan.

Swanson was puzzled how an extra box was mixed up with her belongings. She opened it to find a young couple posing on their wedding day, in addition to a series of original paintings.

"They should go back to the family," Swanson said, remembering her reaction to seeing such personal belongings.

That was the beginning of a nine-year journey to get the paintings back where they belonged. Swanson refused to throw them out.

At first, Swanson tried a few Google searches, but wasn't able to learn much.

The boxes then languished in the basement for years with Swanson not paying them much attention.

When she and her husband were cleaning out and decluttering the basement this past fall, Swanson took one final shot at finding the mystery owners. This time she found a small envelope tucked behind one of the paintings, which proved to be crucial.

Inside the envelope was a biography on the artist, Jack Fox. It mentioned he was offered a job at the Walt Disney Company as a cartoon artist after the Second World War.

It also mentioned he was a member of the Watercolor Society of Oregon. Swanson sent the group a message on Facebook and was quickly put in touch with Aunt Nancy, Fox's widow who gave the Robertson's the paintings as a gift.

When Swanson told Nancy she had her husband's paintings was the first time she learned they were missing.

"That's when all the magic happened," Swanson said.

Luz Swanson had the missing box in her basement the past nine years and was finally able to return the belongings to the Robertsons in time for Christmas. (Chad Hills/CTV News)

Nancy quickly called Carol Robertson, Emily's mother in-law.

"Nancy contacts me and says, 'Hey, you know, I have some interesting news from Canada,'" Carol said.

Over the course of the next month, Carol and Swanson exchanged text messages and phone calls to coordinate how to return the items to the Robertsons, who are now living in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

In one of many decisions that now seem like fate, Swanson opted to ship the paintings on the ground instead of shipping them via air, narrowly avoiding the holiday travel delays thousands of people in Canada experienced.

"It's just crazy to think about the things that had to take place in order for those paintings to get back to us," Carol said.

Arriving the night before Carol and her husband were scheduled to leave from Missouri to Kentucky for the Robertson family Christmas, Carol was able to surprise Jeff and Emily with invaluable possessions that were gone for nearly a decade.

"I just don't get it — like I have no clue on how in the world they have it," Robertson said of opening the gift.

"It's just so kind because I think a lot of people nowadays wouldn't have put that effort in."

Carol was amazed at how kind and generous the Swansons were. They paid to ship the box and refused to be reimbursed, instead asking Carol to share a video of them opening the gift as a form of payment.

It may have taken nine years, but Swanson said the paintings were destined to find Emily and Jeff.

"I think (Fox) was looking from up there hoping the paintings will go back to the family, and that's what happened," she said.

Nearly a month after the miracle took place, Carol, Emily and Swanson are all amazed at how the story unfolded. Carol and Emily are still taken back by Swanson's kindness and persistence to make it happen.

"We can help each other and think more about others," Swanson said. "We can make this world a better place to be. It's called a random act of kindness."

After three different families spread across two countries and four American states got together to line up dozens of little details for a Christmas miracle, not only will everyone have a story to last a lifetime, they may have made a few friends in the process.

"I hope that these paintings are something that we pass down in our family for generations," Robertson said.

"We just might put them on our Christmas card list," Carol said. "They went above and beyond."