California family revives beloved Christmas tradition with surprise sleepover visit
A family in California brought back a longstanding Christmas tradition that went viral on social media.
Daniel Miller and fellow cousins surprised their grandparents with a pre-Christmas sleepover, an annual tradition they call Grandparents Christmas.
Video posted to social media Dec. 21, which has now drawn 14 million views, captured the surprise.
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The video kicks off showing Miller and his wife entering his grandparents’ home stating, “I’m here to spend the night.”
His grandmother responds, with a seemingly surprised tone, “That’s fine. You can spend the night if you’d like to.”
The viral video features their family making pizzas, doing arts and crafts activities and sharing memories together.
“I do thank you for all coming,” Miller’s grandfather, Carroll Blackstock said in the video. “I can tell you that this room has not felt this kind of love ever, and we appreciate it. Thank you so much.”
Miller told Fox News Digital the credit for the surprise goes to his wife, who recently lost her grandparents.
“She kind of brought up the idea of doing this old family tradition that we had that kind of hasn’t happened. … I was like, ‘All right, I’m gonna go ahead and do it,’ and so we did it,” said Miller.
Miller was the first to enter, and he said he began texting cues for the others to join him inside. As the rest of Miller’s cousins and family members began to trickle in, his grandmother asked him, “Are we doing Grandparent’s Christmas?”
“It clicked pretty quickly for her,” said Miller.
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The 25-year tradition was started by Miller’s grandmother, Toni Blackstock.
“She would host events at her house every year kind of leading up to Christmas,” Miller told Fox News Digital.
He said making pizza was always a staple at the event, an ode to his grandmother’s Italian heritage.
Miller said his grandparents were “always present,” which taught him the lesson that “the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.”
“[Our grandparents] definitely [gave their time] to all of their kids and grandchildren,” said Miller, recounting their constant presence at birthday parties and sporting events. “I think that’s taught us that time is very valuable and that [we] should always come together as family. And you should always want to make time for the ones that you love.”
When asked if his grandparents knew of their newfound internet fame, he said, “They don’t know what viral means.
“We kind of put it in perspective,” said Miller. “This is touching a lot of people’s hearts, and this has created a lot of tears of joy. And, so, it made them feel really good.”
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