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The Christmas Star p

Lindsey and Dr. Dreamy work for the same practice... then she wakes up.

their phones to be replayed over and ov

throughout the years.

To add to her schedule, Rylee al

attends a middle school ministry eve

Wednesday night. Much like Young Li

its a time to meet with friends, wh

learning and growing in their fai

During the fall, she went to camp w

this groupf o r t h r e e

d a y s i n

m i d d l e

Tennessee.

All of this

a c t i v i t y

m a k e s

R y l e e

hungry, and

s h e h a s

developed

quite an appetite for McDonalds. In fa

Id call it an unhealthy addiction. If s

continues to go down a dark path, I thi

well have to have and interve

tion, and force her to wat

Super Size Me.

Finally, over Thanksgivi

break, we discovered Ry

is quite the climber, to

As a family, we we

to a climbing gy

so Kaley cougo boulderin

Lindsey, Rylee a

I joined in on the fu

and we quickly learn

that Rylee is pre

good at boulderin

too. She made it

the top, followi

various paths, wh

I plummeted to m

soft and cushy dea

over and over aga

Unlike me, Ryl

might make

good climbi

buddy for Kal

in the future.

In the bac

ground, behin

dance, homewor

reci tals , breakfa

lunch and dinner, friend

advice, not-so friendly advi

Rylee is

now in

m i d d l e

school, in

the sixth

grade, but

at the end

of last

s c h o o lyear, she

went to

Washing-

ton, DC as

a part of

the Safety Patrol group in the Knox

County schools. Her two older sisters

experienced this trip, too, when they

were Rylees age. The trip takes

hundreds of students to see the sites and

history of DC over three long days,

which adds up to about a half marathon

of walking.

This year in school, Rylee joined the

orchestra, playing the stand-up bass. The

nice thing about being the only stand-up

bass player is she is always first chair.

And from our perspective, the bass

isnt as much of an assault on our

ears as the saxophone and clari-

net that her two older sisters

played in middle school. The

sound of a whale is muchmore soothing than the cry

of a gravely ill goose.

Outside of school,

Rylee continues to

dance. She takes classes in

modern, ballet and jazz. Of

course, this keeps her busy

three evenings a week. All of

this practice and work leads

up to an annual dance recital

in May at the Tennessee

Theater. With all of this

dance expertise, she tries

to teach me some

moves from time to

time, but no matter how

hard she tries, I refuse

to whip and nae nae.

There seems to be some-

thing inherently built into

kids that make them want to

make their parents look foolish,

while secretly video recording it on

This Christian-based, peer-led group

provides times and events for teens to

socialize and to share in their faith. A

number of her friends in school are also a

part of this group.

Outside of school, Lindsey has taken up

jogging this year. I dont know why.

Perhaps she was motivated and inspired

to run since Susan and I run, but shesonly 16 she doesnt need to run. Even

a pure heavy cream and trans-fat diet

couldnt add any weight to her skinny

frame. So why run? Its like getting a

root canal on a perfectly healthy tooth.

No Lindsey, enjoy your youth! Be a sloth

and be a glutton while you still can!

Therell be plenty of time to run in your

forties! Im not sure where we went

wrong. #parentingfail

Finally, the rest of Lindseys time is

spent binge watching all 12 seasons of

Greys Anatomy. Watching 109 hours of

Dr. Dreamy may seem like a waste of

time, but it hasnt been in Lindseys case,

since Greys Anatomy has inspired her to

become a general surgeon seriously.

She has truly decided that is the career

path she wants to take, and is working

hard in school, with success, to get good

grades to achieve that goal. Susan and I

are so thankful she hasnt been binge

watching Breaking Bad or Dexter.

While Lindsey locks herself in her

whale grey room, working on her

pre-med studies via Netflix, Rylee, now

age 12, can usually be found jumping on

our neighbors trampoline, playing

Minecraft, producing elaborate Snapchat

videos, singing, dancing or just talking a

lot. While none of these activities will

prepare her for her career aspiration of

being a biomedical engineer, they may

give her some opportunities in the circus.


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The Christmas Star

I dont care if shes touching you. Were on vacation and this is supposed to be fun, so act likeyou love your sisters and smile, and let me take your picture! And stop rolling your eyes!

housecleaning and all things parental is a

mom, also known as Susan to me. Yes,

2015 wasnt much different than many of

the years before. Susan has been busy

being Mom, and as you probably know,

motherhood is a pretty big time-suck.

Not that motherhood sucks (although

sometimes is does), it does demand a lot

of time and effort. Good motherly advice

and life lessons dont just happen all by

themselves. No, it takes some crafty

thought and time to encourage, guilt or

shame your kids into making good life

choices! Susan has been busy!

As if this isnt enough, Susan has takena part-time job doing data input for the

accounting department at a company

called System Improvements. This job

brings in some extra income, and

provides her with conversations with

actual adults. She really likes this aspect

of the job, since she really likes all

of her colleagues.

Once dinner has been cooked,

dishes done, homework finished

and kids are in bed, its time to go to

bed, but instead we stay up late to

binge watch something on Netflix

or Amazon, as Susan sits on her

Throne of Dogs, which is the

loveseat with her in the middle and a

beagle to her right and a beagle to

her left. Theres a fine line between

royalty and crazy dog lady, but

in this case, I wisely choose the former

She is definitely a queen.

Last year at this time, Queen Susan was

married to an unemployed king, since I

had just recently been laid off from my

job of 12 years at HGTV. After the

layoff, I started doing freelance work,

while looking for a full time job. I had

talked with different groups, had some

interviews and made a trip to Washing-

ton, DC to meet with different people,

but in the end, I took a job right here in

Knoxville. In February, I took on the roleof creative director at Red Arrow Indus-

tries, a video production and post

production company. When I worked at

HGTV, I worked

with Red Arrow and

the two owners for a

number of years. I

always liked their

company and had a

lot of respect for the

owners, so when this

opportunity came

available, it was

perfect and the best

case scenario for our

family. Red Arrow

has been doing very

well and continues

to grow. Its fun to

play a part in a growing small business

with great people, doing what I love to

do. This role has allowed me to be much

more hands-on again, which I enjoy, andto see a different facet of the television

industry. Im thankful for how every-

thing worked out.

While incredibly thankful to be work-

ing, there were moments of play and

vacation for our family in 2015. During

the summer, we hit one of our favorites

again, Hilton Head Island, where we had

pastries at the local coffee shop, rode

bikes, went to the beach, swam in the

pool, took walks, shopped, ate mo

food, watched a Star Wars episode

night, and repeated those steps each d

we were there. We left with sand betwe

our toes and totally refreshed a

prepped for Star Wars: The Force Awa

ens.

Then in November, different fam

members from Susans side of the famvisited us to help celebrate Susan

moms 80th birthday. A week later,

drove to Champaign, Illinois to visit m

Mom and stepd

over Thanksgiving

fed myself into

state of lethargy, a

then joined t

masses in Bla

Friday shopping

Thursday. If

stores werent op

on Thanksgivi

Day, I would ha

been forced to w

until that Friday

buy something

didnt know

wanted.

It seems Christmas spirit beg

earlier every year. It was October 1

and I made a trip to the local Hom

Depot to probably buy something manand when I stepped through the doors

was greeted by a Christmas tree farm

fake trees. This made me think of Mic

gan snow, Saturday morning cartoo

Star Wars, vinyl records, Atari 2600, b

fishing, Polaroid cameras, new Coke

yellow Toyota Tercel, the M

Vanilli scandal, Full S

Moscow, Susan, KSHB, baby o

the Mall, baby two, HGTV, ba

three, college, polaroid camer

vinyl records, Star Wars, and n

Home Depot. All of which had m

asking, How did I get here? A

no, not to the More Saving. Mo

Doing store, but how did I g

here here? How did I get to t

middle of my life?

I realized Christmas and midl

have a similarity, beyond the weight g

at those times of life. On the same date

every single year, we celebrate Chri

mas. We know what date it is and


4/4

The Christmas Star

spent the first half of life looking

forward forward to the next step, the

next stage and next big thing in life.

From getting a drivers license, turning

18, going to college, my first career job

to getting married, having

kids, a first house, getting job

promotions, and so on.

Now, after experiencing alot of life stages and

achieving different goals,

I find myself pausing, and

not just looking forward,

but back. I remember the

good old days, even though

they didnt always seem good at

the time, and wonder how they passed so

quickly. And, as I look forward, I

wonder, Whats next? Some of the

answers to that question are obvious, but

there dont seem to be as many major

milestones as when youre 18, unless

you rank colonoscopies and prostate

exams up there with marriage and having

children. Nonetheless,

t h i s

middle

t i m e

seems to

be transi-

t i o n a l ,

with lesscertainty

than I

thought I

would have at this age. This is hard,

because I like certainty and control.

So whats a middle-aged clich

supposed to do? I think Im finding the

answer to this question is another clich.

I think its best to be completely present

in the moment and today, and not get too

caught up in the past or the future. Its

best to embrace each day with all its

imperfections, to milk the life out of it,

and to enjoy whats sitting right in front

of me. Certainty is an illusion and control

know its coming. Its not a mystery, yet

almost every year we have a Home

Depot moment when were somehow

surprised to see that the yuletide spirit

has once again thrown up all over retail

o u tl e ts e v er y wh e re .

Christmas stuff already?!

What the? We almost

get angry about it! Its toosoon! But, in reality, its not

too soon. We just got busy

with life and are surprised

that were reaching the end

of another year again.

Similarly, we all know

were getting older. Its no mystery.

We all know the progression Baby to

child to angsty teen to twenties to thirties

to forties and so on. Its pretty basic

math, even graphic designers can under-

stand it. So, we go through life, aging

one day at a time, looking forward to the

new experiences of each stage. We stay

busy with life. On one of those busy

days, you make a Home

Depot run,

and with

some confu-

sion and

surprise you

ask, How did

I get here?A g a i n , w e

knew i t was

coming, but are

somehow blindsided when we hit the age

our parents were, back when we thought

they were really old.

Bro, sounds like youre having a

mid-life crisis thing. (Thats my old

man interpretation of a teenager talking

to me.) Yes, Im a walking clich, barring

the sporty convertible and the illicit

affair. I turned 45 this year. Mentally, I

dont feel that old, but my once constant

150 mph metabolism, now seems to be

stuck in stop and go traffic in between a

donut and a funnel cake. I find this a little

depressing, so I eat to numb the pain.

What? They serve breakfast all day at

McDonalds? Hey, Rylee, how about you

and I go get some breakfast? I know its

3pm, but that doesnt matter now!

Aside from physical changes, Ive

encountered changes in thought, too. Ive

is not mine to have. Its best for me

accept this. Basically, I am sayi

Seize the day. I told you it was a clic

but a cliche is usually just a truth tha

been annoyingly repeated too ma

times, but its still a truth. Its l

Adeles song, Hello - Its a good so

but its been annoyingly repeated w

too many times.Jesus addressed some these sa

concerns (not about Adeles song, but

former) by assuring his followers t

God knows of and takes care of all

details of their lives, summarizing w

So dont worry about tomorrow,

tomorrow will bring its own worri

Todays trouble is enough for toda

Essentially, its best for me to kick wo

to the curb and trust in Gods love, ch

acter and control. He loves me and

taking care of all things.

Thats such a great truth. I just wis

always believed and practiced it. Whi

know the sausage, egg and cheese bisc

is not the best choice for lunch, I still

it. And though I know how to liv

healthy emotional and spiritual life, th

are times when I still worry my pre

little head about age, the future and

trivial things of life. Obviously, my fa

and practice isnt perfect, but my imp

fection doesnt invalidate this truth, bsimply exposes the need for it. So, I h

onto it. I hang onto Gods message

love, peace and hope. This does

change my age, but it changes me... li

by little, a day at a time.

So, whether youre a millenn

middle-aged or seasoned with wisdo

we hope you find your days filled w

grace, peace and hope this year. We ho

you embrace each day with all its j

and imperfections, too, while find

God in the middle of it all. We wish

very belated Merry Christmas, a Hap

New Year and a Festive Presidents D

TODD & SUSAN KALEY, LINDSEY & RYLEE

2015 christmas star

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