During this holiday season, I am reminded of family and the memories that I have shared with them throughout the last 21 years of my life. The past couple weeks have been filled with old traditions, while creating new ones. Although watching "The Sound of Music" is not a tradition, it is a recurring piece of my ever-changing puzzle of life.

Rodgers & Hammerstein films have had a profound effect on my family, starting with Fräulein Maria and her Von Trapp entourage. Each time I pop in the 2-VHS tape, 174-minute, complete with an intermission, film, there is a wave of fondness that knocks me back into my childhood- a time of innocence and joy for endless discovery.

As I sat and watched it the other night with my father, I couldn't help but sing a long with the 7 Von Trapp children, learning about life through Maria's eyes and heartfelt passion for singing. My father believes that no matter how angry you are before you watch this movie, you will always feel a contagious spirit of joy afterwards, unless you are truly evil.

As I start this new year, I hope go through each day singing like Fräulein Maria- with gusto and fearlessness of what this great life beholds for us all.

The hills are alive with the sound of music

With songs they have sung for a thousand years.

The hills fill my heart with the sound of music

My heart wants to sing every song it hears.

My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds

that rise from the lake to the trees.

My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies

from a church on a breeze.

To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over

stones on its way.

To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray.

I go to the hills when my heart is lonely

I know I will hear what I've heard before.

My heart will be blessed with the sound of music

And I'll sing once more.