Dear Family and Friends:

For several years now, we’ve begun the Lacey Family Digital Christmas Card with a word of thanks to and for our friends and family.  This year, we continue with this tradition.  Indeed, as we see this most remarkable and challenging year to a close, we offer the following sentiments with renewed and fortified conviction:

First, and as sincerely as it can be said, we give thanks for all of you, our extraordinary group of family and friends.  We are deeply grateful for your love and support, for your laughter, for your stories, and for your joy.  We are appreciative for all the moments we spend with you each year, and look forward to many more in the years to come.

Second, we express our heartfelt gratitude to all of you who take the time to send us cards and letters this time of year.  We take great delight in the photos of you and your families, and in the accounts of your recent adventures.  Each year, our mantle is wonderfully crowded with colorful images of stars, trees, elves, and angels, and adorned with a host of smiling faces.  These cards, and the relationships they represent, are invaluable to us, and add immensely to our Christmas cheer.

And now, on to the recap…

We are very, very blessed to report that as of Christmas Eve, our brood remains safe and well.  Like everyone, our year has been one of great change and accommodation.  But on the whole, we have been able to modify our work and school routines without significant, negative effect.  And at times, we have even found silver linings.

Of course, for fans of the Louisiana State University football team, the year began on an all-time high, as the Tigers completed one of (if not the) greatest seasons in the history of college football.  To say that Aaron was overjoyed would be an understatement.  Because all five members of our clan have birthdays in the first three months of the year, we also were able to kick off 2020 with a trip to New Orleans (for Aaron and Andie), a gaggle of sleepovers, and enough sugar to down an elephant.  Andie and Truman even snuck in a quick trip to Jacksonville to visit the Florida family. 

And then…  Covid-19. 

Aaron’s travel schedule came to a screeching halt, but his work exploded.  As he likes to say. “People call their lawyers when they have problems.  And this year, they’ve had lots of problems.”  It has probably been the busiest year of his career.  Fortunately, it is very easy for him to work out of the home, he is blessed to be on a tremendous team, and he has really enjoyed being at home. 

Speaking of Andrea, she added “schoolmarm” to her list of responsibilities overnight, and began the long, slow, brutal grind that is virtual learning with middle-schoolers.  The spring was tough.  In fact, in the fall, she and Aaron made the decision to homeschool Ella and Truman.  It’s proven to be a great decision.  Or at least, it seems like it has been a great decision.  Hopefully, the public school curriculum is also prioritizing Minecraft and trampoline this fall.  August, incidentally, has remained in school, but has been entirely online.  It’s been hard, but he has been a trooper, as they say.

Of course, while the year has been extraordinary is so many ways, it’s also been ordinary in many others, and blessedly so.  Andie spent hours upon hours in the garden this year, once again adding color and life to the old house on Elm Avenue.  

And in late spring, Aaron reluctantly agreed to take on some chickens, which led to the great poultry invasion of 2020.  As is evidenced in our The Year in Photos gallery, the chickens pretty much took over, making their presence (and poop) known in the house, outside the house, in the neighbor’s yards, and pretty much anywhere they dang well pleased.  Inexplicably, it also became quite fashionable in the Lacey household to get photographed with a chicken on one’s head.  In the photo gallery, be sure to check out the chicken coup that Andrea designed and built in the back yard.  As always, her work is top notch.

Like many, we also spent a great deal of time outdoors this year.  We’ve always had a penchant for outdoor activities, but this year saw a notable increase in time spent on hikes, at creeks, and racing around skateparks.  We were very fortunate to escape to Tennessee for a week in the mountains, which included trips to several spectacular waterfalls.  We had so many great photos from the trip that we actually dropped them into a separate gallery.

Finally, on the topic of silver linings, Andrea and Aaron have both had the opportunity to revisit long-dormant hobbies this year.  Andrea has returned to pottery with gusto.  She has transformed the basement into a studio, complete with her own wheel, and is turning out some beautiful pieces.  For his part, Aaron has finally found some time to get back into music and video production, something he got into during his years in Nashville.  This summer he produced a series of Title IX Training videos for work that now have 4,000 hits on the old YouTube.  And he just wrapped a Christmas Variety Hour for our church, which allowed him to finally realize his lifelong dream of hosting his own “old time” radio show (or YouTube video, as it were).  If you have a moment, the Variety Show is worth a quick look, particularly the Ski Sketch with Aaron and his Dad.

As always, we’re grateful that you’ve found the time to read the digital card, and invite you to check out the galleries, poems, and other items on the site at your leisure (if you’ve also had a bone to pick with 2020, you might particularly like this year’s poem).

Warmest regards and Merry Christmas,

The Laceys