From Litchfield Park to the Land of Sweets, the Weber Family Creates Tradition

Movies, magazines and other media lead us to believe that December holidays should be as perfect as a Martha Stewart tablescape or a Norman Rockwell-depicted family gathering.

“What we see [can] lead us to believe that the holidays should be just like what you see on a Christmas card – they should be picture perfect,” said Melinda Campbell-Weber. “But the thing is, we don’t lead those picture perfect lives.”

Campbell-Weber is a training officer for the DES Division of Benefits and Medical Eligibility, and a long-time disability advocate. Campbell-Weber’s two sons have developmental delays. Her oldest son, Colby, who had previously gone undiagnosed until he had a seizure at the age of two. Then the diagnoses started accruing. As Colby grew older and the Weber family welcomed their second child, Hayden, it soon became clear that typical holiday traditions would not work for them.

Campbell-Weber advises, “You have to make your own traditions; [ones] that are going to work well for your family and your children so that you know how to enjoy the holiday, and they know how to enjoy the holiday.”

The Making of a Tradition

One tradition Campbell-Weber held as a child was an annual visit to the theater to see The Nutcracker ballet. Her sister was a ballerina and her mother enjoyed sewing. Each year, her mother would make Campbell-Weber a new dress.  “It was a big deal, and it just meant so much to me!” she said. “It was so much fun to go downtown with my new dress on and see this beautiful production.”

Keeping her cherished childhood memories in mind, Campbell-Weber decided to create a similar custom for her two sons, both of whom had sensory challenges.  It took weeks of planning, but one year, when her boys were young, she bought The Nutcracker book and an album of the soundtrack. “Right before the holidays, I started to play the music – classical music, which they liked because it was soothing to them. Then we would read The Nutcracker. We would do that every night, then before I knew it, they were in love with it!”

“We read books every night because [reading books together is] really good when you have children that need to learn how to speak,” she explained. 

The Nutcracker is performed at theaters around Arizona during the holiday season. “When tickets went on sale [that year], I was the first in line at the box office,” said Campbell-Weber.  “I got us front row seats so the boys could see the orchestra and they could see the ballerinas.”  This was all part of the plan.

“They knew there was going to be music. They knew there was going to be dancing.  They knew there was going to be a lot of sparkly things, and they knew the story that went with it.” With all her planning and preparations, the theatrical environment, which would usually result in a meltdown, was transformed into a cherished tradition. “The preparations helped tremendously,” said Campbell-Weber.

The Weber family pose outside their front door in Litchfield
Park for their 2018 commemorative Christmas card photo.

Now grown men, Colby, a 22-year-old electrical engineer at General Motors in Texas, and Hayden, a second-year student at Arizona State University, have their own “picture perfect” family holiday.

“Twenty years later, we’re still going [to see The Nutcracker],” Campbell-Weber said. “It is something that they look forward to every year, and it is one of those activities we do together. That’s one of our holiday traditions.”

Campbell-Weber advises, “It’s just those subtle things that you have to create that’s going to work for your family.  Attending The Nutcracker ballet is not going to work for everyone.  But that works for my family. And that’s what symbolizes the holiday season for us – spending that time together.”

By Lyn Riley