There is an ancient Chinese belief which states that there is an invisible red thread that connects each of us to all of the individuals who have been, currently are, and will in the future be important to us in our lives.
This red thread can stretch, twist, and bend… but will never break.
This year, we had to wait until almost the last minute to make our Christmas cookies. We had tried to make them the few weekends before Christmas, but between Katie and me, we were sick every weekend. Katie usually likes to make gingerbread cookies, but I convinced her to try sugar cookies this year.
I like to help with every step along the way.
Of course the sugar was an important ingredient.
This is the first year I got to use the hand mixer. I think I did a good job with it.
After we made the dough, we had to put the dough in the refrigerator to chill.
After chilling, we got to roll out the dough and start making shapes.
The week before Christmas, Katie had her tap dance performance where families are invited to come and watch a dance class and then enjoy treats afterward. As much as she loves to dance and dances all the time, she always gets a little nervous during these performances and has a really hard time looking at her family. We still enjoyed it even if she wasn't looking our way. I'm proud of her work!
All of us were so excited as we waited for everyone to get to the studio!
It was fun to enjoy time with my friends before the performance began.
Once we began, we all had our spots to stand on.
We practiced some of our basic steps for our families.
There's something about tap dance that I just love!
Every once in a while, I looked in the direction of my family, but I usually try to just watch my teacher.
I wish everyone could experience the fun of dance.
We did some warm-ups, practiced specific steps, practiced our Christmas dance, and performed our practice dance.
I see you looking at me.
After the class, I spent some time with my best dance friend!
We enjoyed some cookies together while her brother joined us!
This was our best smile with our mouths full of cookies!
This is part of how we warm up.
We each got to try some pull-backs by ourselves. We worked really hard to get the taps right with these.
This was another one of our warm-ups.
Before we performed our dance, we practiced the dance in small parts.
As we were waiting for Christmas, we received a huge box from my sister, Debby. Of course, Katie couldn't part with the box. I made a deal with her that she could keep the box one day.
I thought the box was so much more comfortable than a chair.
We celebrated the new year as we usually do. We spent a quiet evening at home and rang in the new year with the east coast.
Every year I say that we don't put a whole lot of stock into making new year resolutions, but I always ask Katie what her resolutions are. This year, she had three. She said that she would clean her room more often, help more people, and smile at people.
