I have a great teacher

I really like traditions. Some traditions we’ve kept going since our oldest was born. Others we’ve started and then stopped as we learn what works for our family. Each year on Christmas Adam (a SnapShop student taught me that…it is the day before Christmas Eve…Adam comes before Eve). Anyway, on Christmas Adam we all sleep under the Christmas tree. It is the kids’ favorite night of the year. It also requires extra coffee the next morning for Chris and I!

Another favorite tradition is to write out goals/hopes/dreams for the coming year and pack them in our stocking. We write them for each of the kids and as they grow they add to their own lists. When we get out the stockings the coming year, we read over the lists. There are always things that happened and things that didn’t. There are always things that get listed over and over.

For next year I listed a bunch of personal stuff and some practical stuff. Work related. Home projects. Boring grown-up stuff that I wanted to get done.

You know what my oldest daughter wanted added to her list?

She added, “I want to sing and dance in the front yard everyday!”

It was like a punch in the gut for me…she knows how to dream big and beautifully. Her biggest hope for the coming year is to sing and dance everyday. She is far wiser than her mom.

I’m a terrible dancer and I can’t carry a tune. I’ve got a lot to learn. Thankfully, I have a great teacher.

Her favorite songs to sing are “the ones we don’t know.” Those are the songs that she’s never heard and no one has ever written. They are the songs she makes up in the moment, usually while she is twirling. Isn’t that a challenging thought for the coming new year…to embrace the songs we don’t know. To not fear the unknown, but to sing and dance as the unknown becomes the known.

Like I said, I have a great teacher.