Step 27: Have and Keep Traditions

It is an old German tradition that eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day will give you good luck throughout the year. So every New Year's Day, my family bakes up a pork roast and kraut to engage in the traditional feast of our ancestors.

However, this year was different. We had eaten a ton of food over Christmas. We had chocolates and raspberry tarts and mashed potatoes soaked in butter and piles of meat and more chocolates and more raspberry tarts. We were exhausted by the food we had eaten. After eating a thousand bagel bites and cheese sticks on New Year's Eve, we just didn't have it in us to eat that New Year's Day good luck meal. We decided to scrap the annual feast and try to digest the food we'd eaten the year before.

This was a big mistake. Our luck had finally run out. On Wednesday, January 27, our laundry room caught fire. Not just a baby fire. A real fire. With fire trucks and police. And smoke. And everything ruined. My family cannot even return to the home because of the smoke damage. It would be harmful for the kids to breathe in the air.

The moral of this story is: If it's not broke, don't fix it. Pork and kraut had been working for us for a long time. We had no business messing with century old wisdom. Sometimes you just have to force the food down even when your tummy is full.

Step 26: Appreciate the Good Works of Others

After a long day of school and work, I often like to kick back and relax by watching a half hour or so of whatever is on TV. Generally this would include whatever trashy reality show or countdown that is VH1, the Real World or something of the likes on MTV, E! True Hollywood Stories, or some version of Law and Order on USA or TNT.

Beginning fall of 2009, a new show was added to the normal relaxation line-up: Extreme Home Makeover on CMT. It started small for me; I only wanted to see the end of the show when they would "MOVE THAT BUS!" so that I could see the final result. Then I began to want to know more about the family's dire situation. By November it was my go-to show, and I was pissed if I missed the beginning therefore missing the entire family story. And every time, without fail, I cry a few small tears when the family first sees their brand new house. Whether I truly am touched for the family or I feel short changed because no one built a free house for me, I am not sure, but either way, it's an emotional moment for me.

So turn off your VH1 countdown, your Real World, your E! True Hollywood Stories, and start to appreciate the good works of others. Watch Extreme Home Makeover on CMT.

Step 25: Be Thankful

I know that people are normally thankful around Thanksgiving, but I feel like Christmas and New Year's is just as good a time to give thanks. So, that's exactly what I would like to do: Give thanks to everyone who made my Christmas this year the best Christmas.

(the whole Neeley clan minus mom, dad, and Ryan on Christmas morning)

Dad - Thanks for resembling a person who is sane this year. It really made a difference. Also thanks for paying for all of the presents that mom bought for us. You're the best.
Mom - Thanks for making bagel bites on New Year's Eve. They were delicious.
Sarah - Thanks for asking everyone in the family a billion times if they REALLY did like the present you gave them. That never gets old.
Robbie - Thanks for being obsessed with blueray players.
Ryan - Thanks for keeping everyone safe. We missed you this year.
JoAnna - Thanks for sleeping in the room that resembles a dungeon instead of my room.
Josh - Thanks for getting those crazy eyes now and then. It makes me nervous and excited at the same time.
Victoria - Thanks for getting married. It was a great way to buy extra things for ourselves with mom and dad's money with the excuse of "it's for the wedding."
Justin - Thanks Pending...
Steven - Thanks for playing an hours worth of Beatles Rock Band on vocals while singing in falsetto. I thought it was a joke at first, but it wasn't.
Eleanor - Thanks for looking like a hot, hot babe at Victoria's wedding.
Ruthe - Thanks for not clawing my eyese out. I always suspect that you might at any moment, so I'm glad that you never did.
Alex - Thanks for going comando to your physical. That was the best story I heard all Christmas.
Amber - Thanks for saying Margot about fifty times a day (no exaggeration). And thanks for saying hobo fifty times a day mom told you to stop saying Margot.
Olivia - Thanks for being just all around cute all the time. And for having pet rocks.