Leigh Parks and Conner Ball have a special Christmas tradition that they have participated in for about 20 years with their Nana, Jinx Carroll.
Jinx and her late husband, Julian, known as Da to their family, have 12 grandchildren, including spouses, and five great-grandchildren. While Conner isn’t technically one of her grandchildren as he is Leigh’s cousin from her father’s side of the family, Nana and Da always treated Conner and his sister, Erin, as one of their own. About 20 years ago, Jinx took Leigh and Conner, who were inseparable as children, to Lakeland Yard and Garden the Friday after Thanksgiving to buy the family Christmas trees for her home. They enjoyed it so much that they haven’t missed a year since.
“We just enjoyed it so much that it just kept going every year,” Leigh said. “We never really talked about it being this big tradition. It just became a thing we did. Sometimes, other cousins would come with us but most of the time, we just had it with the three of us.”
Each year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, they go at about 10 a.m. to pick out two trees – one smaller for the living room and the big tree for the den.
“I have spent every Christmas waking up at Nana and Da’s house, and I think that’s why they ended up getting the smaller tree in the living room because my family was always there from Texas and they wanted us to have our own space to have our family Christmas before everyone else got there,” Leigh said. “I’ve spent every Christmas at their house.”
Once they take a lap around the trees and judge them all, they pick their trees and head inside for another part of the special tradition.
“We go into the store area and Nana lets us pick out an ornament for ourselves that she always buys for both Conner and I,” Leigh said. “We are always trying to pick out the best one each year. Our ornaments go on our tree at home and are a special reminder of that tradition at our own houses.”
The next day after the trees are picked out, all the cousins who can come over to the house to help Nana decorate her tree. For Christmas, they all come back to Nana and Da’s to spend the holiday together.
“Around 9 or 10 on Christmas morning, all the other cousins start rolling in,” Leigh said. “It’s been more scattered as we all get older now and some have kids, but everyone still comes over. We do stockings and presents with the whole family. Then we have Christmas lunch together.”
Conner, who lost both sets of grandparents at a young age, said this tradition is so meaningful to him along with all of the other moments he has got to spend with his adopted grandparents.
“My sister and I always felt like part of the family – even going to their house for sleepovers and holidays,” Conner said. “It is always really special. We just love and adore them. It’s like having these adopted grandparents through them, and it is really, really meaningful.”
While recent years have looked slightly different as it is no longer Nana taking the kids to get the Christmas trees, but rather the 26-year-olds taking their 93-year-old Nana, it is still just as special.
“It is really special, and it’s become my favorite tradition, partially just because I get to have time with her,” Leigh said. “In the midst of whatever changes or chaos is happening in the world, in my own personal life or in Nana’s life, it’s a constant every year that I get to take time to just focus on the joy of Christmas and being with Nana. It’s a few hours I get to go spend this time with her and step away from whatever else may be happening. It’s fun to look back and just see how much we’ve all gotten to grow up and get old together, which has really been sweet.”
Conner said it just became a tradition because of the fun they have together each year.
“Looking back now, every year it is just the thing we did,” Conner said. “Leigh would text me ‘Happy Thanksgiving, does this Friday work for you?’ And I was always like,
‘100%, I’ll be there.’”
To him, it was always special to be included.
“Nana always invited me, and it is something we can hold on to that is really special,” Conner said.
Leigh said the tradition and the holidays together are a special time to invest in one another, talk about life – the hard and the good, and take a moment to process and appreciate what they’ve gone through as a family and personally each year.
“During the holidays, I get to fully immerse myself in my family and be with them and love on them, but also be loved on by them,” Leigh said. “So it’s almost like a refresh before the New Year.”
This year’s Friday after Thanksgiving tradition was especially meaningful for the family.
“This is the last year we’re probably going to do it – at least for her house because Nana is moving,” Conner said. “This was the last time we would be picking out a tree for that house. It was really a special last time doing it, and it’s fun to look back on it. It’s been something that the three of us always look forward to and cherish.”
