Originally posted on December 5, 2014

Dear Friends,

Here we are again smack in the middle of the holiday season which seems to have begun … Oh, I don’t know, around August 1^st?

I admit it. I’m a huge sucker for the holidays. I love getting out the holiday decorations we’ve collected over the years (the best ones made by our kids as they were growing up), lighting a zillion candles, and snuggling with my husband and our cat Lucy as we watch an endless succession of made-for-television holiday movies. The cornier and the more predictable, the better! It’s the season where I can never seem to get enough of those “happily ever after” endings, preferably wrapped up in a scene with snow falling.

This is also the season where I find myself doing a lot of reflecting about what really matters. My principal dance mentor, the late Gay Delanghe, had a holiday tradition that meant a lot to the succession of dancers, choreographers, and students who became her friends as well as colleagues. Every December, we looked forward to getting a phone call from her. We’d talk for hours and catch up on our lives, families, and careers.

It’s so easy to lose touch with the people who really matter. E-mail and social media are great ways to remain connected, but nothing beats hearing the sound of a loved one’s voice.

I miss those phone calls, but I know a piece of Gay lives on in me and all the dancers and friends whose lives she touched. This holiday season, I plan to spend less time worrying about getting my holiday cards out on time and more time making phone calls that matter.

Wishing you a blessed and meaningful holiday season!