Dear Family and Friends:

Welcome to the 2022 Lacey Family Digital Christmas Card!  As is our tradition, we begin our annual letter with the following two observations, which remain true year after year.

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 our year in review!

First and foremost, we are grateful to report that we made it through 2022 largely unscathed.  This is more than just an idle opener.  We know many who have experienced significant challenges and loss in the past year, as they have navigated aging parents, teenage children, demanding careers, new health issues, and other hallmarks of middle age.  We have certainly experienced our share of difficult days.  But we are generally in good health and moving in a positive direction.  And we know better than to take such things for granted.

Thematically speaking, 2022 was all about emerging from our pandemic seclusion, and once again engaging with our community.  After two years of cancelled or shortened seasons, our regional theater, sports, and other performance venues were finally back in full swing, and we could not wait to make up for lost time.  Some combination of our clan managed to make it to the Lion King, Hamilton, Chicago, Camelot, Mary Poppins, Legally Blonde, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, among others.  And we attended more Cardinals games this year than ever before, including the final home game for Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina, in which Pujols hit home run 702 of his career (tying Babe Ruth for all-time).  It is hard to explain, but we felt relief, release, and joy throughout the year as we exercised the freedom to congregate and celebrate with friends, family, and community.

In the same vein, we took more trips in 2022 than in the prior two years combined.  If you take a quick scroll through the year in photos, you’ll spot shots from our trip back to Aaron’s hometown in Louisiana for Mardi Gras, our annual summer trip to Jacksonville, and two separate sojourns to Chicago (each with a different twin).  Again, we struggle to describe how and why these outings were so very good for the soul.  But we have a hunch you know what we mean.

For the kids, 2022 has been a year of significant change.  August started high school and grew six inches.  Or maybe a foot.  Or maybe two feet.  Honestly, it’s hard to say.  And we haven’t checked in the last hour, so it may be more.  Each day we just hope that there is enough food remaining in the fridge for the rest of the family.  On the bright side, it’s not been hard to keep him clothed.  He just wears Aaron’s gear (assuming it’s not too small).  It’s also worth noting that August joined the marching band this year at Lindbergh High School, which turned out to be an extraordinary and rewarding commitment.  Lindbergh’s band is one of the largest in the region (over 250 kids), and a competitive marching band, meaning they prepare a complex performance piece and travel to competitions around the Midwest.  August, who plays the trumpet, dedicated hundreds of hours to the cause.  Suffice to say, it was a learning experience on many levels.  The season culminated with the band making the finals of the Bands of America St. Louis Super Regional Championship, where they placed 14 out of 69 bands.  It was a great finish and we were very proud of the kids.

Truman and Ella took on middle school this year, which is sixth grade in our area.  That means all three of our children started a new school this fall.  The twins both swam through the summer, and both decided to join a diving team during the fall term.  So far, it seems middle school is agreeing with them reasonably well, and they are definitely the best set of fraternal diving twins on our street.  Well, top five for sure.  Away from school, Ella has a broad range of interests, but a real love for baking seems to be emerging, with trick scooters close behind.  For his part, Truman appears to have a genuine passion for drawing.  He spends hours working on his sketch pad (old school) or Andie’s iPad (new school).

Andrea spent a great deal of time this year expanding and developing her pottery practice.  Though still an avocation, her studio space has evolved to resemble something more permanent and professional, including her wheel, drying racks, shelves of glazes and clay, and a kiln.  Five years in, her knowledge and skill also continue to grow.  She continues to pursue a range of hobbies, to include gardening, chickening, and childrening, but this pottery thing seems to really have legs.  We’ve included a “pottery gallery” this year that includes photos of some of her work, and expect that you’ll see more of it in years to come. 

Aaron, for his part, dedicated most of the year to unsuccessfully fighting old age.  He underwent LASIK this fall, which was his one victory.  He is definitely seeing better than he has in decades.  But in most other respects, he is getting his ass kicked.  There was definitely more hair on his head in January.  And things appear to be surrendering to gravity on a daily basis, in many cases without even putting up a fight.  Just pitiful.  On the up side, his new prune-based diet seems to be working for him, and Metamucil is on sale at the Safeway through January 5.  Also, it looks like WGN is going to start re-running the next season of JAG soon, so things are looking up!

But seriously folks, we are well here in Saint Louis. We are working each day to find the love, humor, patience, and grace we need to get along, and most days we seem to get what we need. We hope the same is true for you, and if not, we hope it will be in 2023. As always, we’re grateful that you’ve found the time to read the digital card, and invite you to check out the Christmas poems, this year’s recommended holiday album, and other sundry things on the site.

Warmest regards and Merry Christmas,

The Laceys