Birthday Boy

My son turned 18 a few days ago. 18! That just blows my mind. I keep thinking there is some trick to slowing down time and being able to enjoy it more, but I haven't found it yet. And this is kid #8. Not sure how I'm old enough to have 8 adult children. Just saying that makes me want to run screaming because that means I. Am. Old.

How can I be 25 in my head but when I look in the mirror I just see an old lady looking back at me?

I digress.

We celebrated my son's birthday with a special breakfast, a special dinner, ice cream, and some gifts. But my favorite part of our birthday tradition is that we go around the table (or room) and each person shares their favorite things about the birthday boy or girl. It's a great time to make note of all the wonderful things about that child and it allows the other kids to think about what they love about their sibling. Some times, I get a little teary listening to what the kids say. I just want all my kids to love each other!

Happy Birthday to this kid. He is such a light in my life. He makes me smile. He is such a hard worker and he never complains or asks if he can get out of work. He is tender-hearted and thoughtful. He is always looking out for me and even opens my doors for me whenever we are together. He isn't afraid to share his beliefs, but he is kind as he does so. He is full of love for the Savior. I am so thankful for him.

Second Christmas

My son and his wife have been living in Orlando, FL working for Disney World. One of the drawbacks of working during the fall semester of the college program is that they couldn't come home to celebrate Christmas. Fortunately, my daughter-in-law's family went to FL for Christmas so they were all together on Christmas day. They went to EPCOT, a totally cool place, that day, but for my son it wasn't the usual Christmas celebration so he was a little sad. I think it may even be possible he misses his mommy :).

Following the lead of Fellowship of the Rings with its second breakfast and so that we could all be together to celebrate Christmas, we decided to create a new holiday, "Second Christmas." We'll be picking up my son and daughter-in-law on Thursday from the airport and that night will be "Second Christmas Eve." We'll do our family traditions (again). The kids will all sleep in the same room that night (again) and will wake up early (again) on Friday morning so we can celebrate Christmas together. We'll spend all day Friday eating, listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas shows, and enjoying each other's company.

Now that we have older kids and will have new in-laws in coming years, my husband and I think we'll institute a new family tradition of Second Christmas so that the kids who can be with us for the 25th can celebrate and those who need to spend it with in-laws can come for the second celebration and then we can all be together. It's a win/win proposition because spending it with family is far more important to me than the actual date.

So, come the end of the week, I'll be cooking another big turkey dinner with all the fixin's, there will be a few more gifts under the tree, and we can do our family traditions with the whole family. We're all excited!

Talley Family Hulapalooza

Traditions are very important in my family. Today, the day after Thanksgiving, is known as the Talley Family Hulapalooza. We bring out all the Christmas decorations and decorate the house and yard. I love to have lights outside, especially if it's snowing--makes my house look all magical.

We used to cut down our own tree, but after the beetles and the drought attacked most of the pinion trees in the area some years back, we couldn't bring ourselves to cut down a tree that survived against such odds. We have a lovely fake tree, but somehow, the smell of a live one is missing. I keep trying different air freshners to try to capture that Christmas tree smell, but so far I've failed. We do go out and cut a few branches off trees so we can have a little of that fragrance.

During our years of cutting down trees, our favorite tradition was to drive inside the garage with the tree still on top of the Suburban, wedging the tree between the van and the garage door. Every year we'd remind ourselves, even as we drove down the driveway not to go inside the garage, and yet, we'd still manage to forget until we heard the crunch of the tree trying to go under the raised garage door.

Every year, though, we still watch Christmas Vacation. Every time I see that chipmunk on  the back of Chevy Chase I roar in laughter. I love Aunt Bethany and the Jell-O with cat food, the fried cat under the chair, and Eddie's dickie under his polyester suit. The whole group is nuts, from Eddie to the in-laws and they make me laugh.

We've also added Elf  to our tradition and now we can all quote from it. My kids even add syrup to their spaghetti--gross. We love this movie and have fun watching it each year.

Most of all, I love the Hulapalooza because we laugh and have so much fun together as a family. It's even more perfect if we have a snow fall and sit inside, next to the fire, watching the flakes pass by the window as we're sipping hot choclate.

Yep, this is a great time of year.

Traditions Anchored in Service

I wanted to share some more family traditions. Years ago, my sister made a 24 Days of Christmas book for our family. It contains a scripture, a song, and a story for each of the twenty-four days before Christmas. As a family, we use this book every year to prepare us for Christmas. I love the story, Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. It illustrates such unselfish love. Both the husband and the wife give of themselves for the other one. We also read about an unselfish girl who finds a treasure in a loaf of bread, a small tree that gives its last leaf to keep a bird warm, and a young Thomas S. Monson who learns the true meaning of Christmas.

I think my favorite story, though, is The Other Wiseman. It always brings tears to my eyes when I think about how this man so desperately wanted to see the Savior. He gave everything he had and lived his life with the single purpose of meeting the Redeemer of the world, but unfortunately, barely missed him before he was crucified. As the man is dying, he’s distraught that he never got to see Christ, but the Savior appears to him and tells him that because of his selfless service to those around him, he has served God. This story reminds me that when I serve others, including my own children, I am serving God.

Another tradition we have is choosing a family in our community that we can “Secret Santa.” We encourage our children to participate as much as possible while keeping the family’s identity a secret. We choose a different family each year. Over the years, we’ve included food, homemade items, toys, clothes, and toiletries. It’s always fun to find a sneaky way to leave a box filled with gifts and it helps our kids to see beyond themselves and realize that others are in need of a little extra Christmas cheer.

As a youth, I remember going to a widow’s house and delivering a tree. We decorated it and spent time with her. I also remember taking food to a lonely neighbor and visiting with her. My grandmother was so selfless when it came to serving others. One year, we even learned a song in our neighbor’s native language and sang it to her on Christmas Eve. Now, with my family, we try to remember our neighbors by delivering goodies and caroling to them each year. No one will mistake us for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir because our songs are delivered with more love than melody. :)

Traditions anchored in service, especially during a time of year that’s become so commercialized and filled with selfish desires, will help unite and strengthen a family. Children that participate in service-oriented activities during Christmas learn valuable lessons about what’s really important and that Christmas is about far more than toys and trinkets.

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Family Traditions

Every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, we pull out all of our Christmas decorations, put on the Christmas tunes, and decorate our house for Christmas.

We used to trudge through the forest searching for that one, perfect tree—you know, with the light shining down from heaven and a chorus of angels singing. On two different occasions, I had newborns that I carried in a front pack as we hiked through the trees seeking the one that would have the honor of adorning our living room for the season. Year after year, we cut down our own tree despite the snow, rain, or complaints from small children that their legs were going to fall off.

Searching for the tree was usually so exhausting and took so long that some years we had to postpone the decorating until the next day. And, too many times to count, we reminded ourselves during the drive home that we had a tree on top of the vehicle and we should not drive into the garage. Yet, time after time, we’d forget and drive into the garage, wedging the tree between the top of the vehicle and the garage door. That became one of our traditions.

Unfortunately, a beetle infestation combined with several years of drought killed the majority of pinion trees in our area. We then decided we’d—gasp—buy an artificial tree in an effort to leave the live trees intact and allow for new tree growth. We may go back to cutting down our own tree when the forest has had a chance to regenerate itself, but by then it may be too difficult to maneuver our wheelchairs and canes through the forest.

Our family tradition of decorating for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving has become an important part of our family’s memories and the kids look forward to it each year. My son, who recently returned home from his mission, has nicknamed the day, “The Talley Family Christmas Halapalooza.” He’s said many times how much he missed this tradition while he was away in Italy.

Traditions are an important part of our families. Kids look forward to traditions and see them as a constant in their ever-changing lives. No matter what, my kids know that instead of shopping on Black Friday, we’ll be putting up the Christmas tree, sipping hot chocolate, and watching, “Christmas Vacation.”

Of course, other traditions are even more important. Family scripture study, family home evening, and family prayer are all traditions that will not only strengthen our family here and now, they will bind us together for eternity.

When we were first married, we instituted a tradition of reading our scriptures together, reciting an Article of Faith, singing a hymn (usually a Primary song), and then saying our family prayer. It’s become such an integral part of our family that our kids won’t allow us to skip any part of it, even if it means we’re doing it at midnight.

Traditions that are grounded in the gospel will unite our families and draw us closer together. It’s never too late to start a family tradition.

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And while you're there, subscribe to our fantastic newsletter. Welcome to the yourLDSneighborhood newsletter. In addition to being able to shop in the new virtual neighborhood, the LDS newsletter brings you LDS articles, LDS products, LDS services, LDS resources and LDS interviews from around the world—all with an LDS focus. Look for issues delivered to your email inbox every week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. LDS Newsletter Subscriptions are FREE, and joining is easy.