# data[].attributes.body
One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is decorating our Christmas tree. Over the years, my family has compiled hundreds of ornaments that we keep in bins in the basement. These come in many different colors, textures, shapes, and sizes. Ornaments are extremely fragile and must be handled with care when taking each one out of the box to hang it on the tree. This requires discrete coordination as it is a reach to grasp movement. Reach to grasp movements are composed of three components: transport, grasp, and manipulation. You must get your hand to the ornament, grasp without using too much force, and move it to the tree. Intrinsic properties of the ornaments, most importantly, their delicate texture and varying sizes, will influence the wrist velocity and the grip size required to complete the reach to grasp movement. The coordination of the components of reach to grasp movements will lead to successful decoration of the Christmas tree.

# data[].attributes.body
When I come home for winter break, it has usually been a long time since I have driven a car. When I get behind the wheel, I know how to drive due to my procedural memory; however, I must rely on my declarative memory to remember how to get from place to place in my hometown. This usually goes smoothly until snow is thrown into the mix. As most Wisconsinites know, driving in the snow, no matter how many times you have done it, is not easy. It requires much more concentration in completing the task of driving than it would in "normal" conditions. This creates interference. Snow obstructs vision, which limits the necessary sensory information that is needed for driving safely. To prevent this, I always make sure that I have a snow scraper in my car, my windshield wipers are working, and wiper fluid is full.

# data[].attributes.body
Each year around Christmas time, my family and I finally have time to get out and go skiing. I learned how to ski when I was nine years old and I remember being very nervous. My first time skiing I ran into rope at the bottom of the hill and completely wiped out because I did not know how to stop. After that, I took lessons from a ski instructor. In my first lessons, I was in the cognitive stage of learning where I was taught using augmented feedback. He taught me strategies to improve my balance and coordination on skis. I learned that in order to successfully downhill ski I had to maintain a relaxed posture rather than tensing up. In addition, the instructor told me to discard my previous knowledge about how to stop on skis, and instead he taught me about timing and sequencing in order to stop quickly and safely. I remember specifically that he taught me to make the skis look like a "pizza slice" by pointing the tips of the skis together. I will never forget this advice and use it while downhill skiing even today.

# data[].attributes.body
In my house, I am the designated Christmas present wrapper. I set up a wrapping station in my room each year with a variety of wrapping paper, scissors, tape, ribbons, and bows. My family members bring me their presents and tell me who they are for and I will wrap and label them accordingly. Although this may sound like a nuisance to some, I really enjoy it. There are many fine motor skills that require finger dexterity in present wrapping. First, I use the gift to measure how much wrapping paper I will need to fully cover it and use a scissors to cut the paper off of the roll. Then, I secure the paper to the gift using tape. This requires bimanual coordination as one hand is holding the paper to the gift as the other is tearing off a piece of tape. After the tape is secured on the paper in the center of the gift, I move to the sides. I fold down the top flap to create two wings. I flatten these to the gift and fold the remaining triangle of paper up and secure these with tape. After each side is secure, it is time to decorate! I love to use ribbon to wrap around the gift to secure it and use a decorative bow on top! The final step is putting a "TO: FROM:" label on the gift and placing it under the tree.

# data[].attributes.body
Ever since I can remember I have loved baking. As a little girl I remember getting so excited to bake Christmas cookies and would bookmark pages in baking magazines all year long. Of all the extravagant cookies that I made throughout the years, one kind has remained a favorite: peanut butter kiss cookies. Although they are quite simple to make, I would still follow the recipe book thoroughly for years. After a few times, I began to rely on my declarative memory to know which ingredients I had to use: flour, sugar, brown sugar, egg, butter, peanut butter, baking soda, baking powder, and of course, the Hershey kisses. Eventually, I memorized how much of each ingredient was needed. Now, after years of making these, I do not need the recipe any longer. I can rely on my procedural memory to create my favorite treat.