Hello Beloved Member of the Chadwick Family!

It’s Grandpa Charlie with this year’s edition of the LAME FAMILY HOLIDAY LETTER! It’s our annual letter where we generously tell you about the inane goings on of people you’ll never meet. A shout out to my Grandma Vickie, whose annual letters of this nature were the inspiration for this now 4 year old tradition.

We take this project VERY seriously. Every single word is painstakingly typed into a Google Doc, and anything that comes up in spelling or grammar check is thoroughly reviewed by our top executives. One problem we’ve encountered in the past few years is determining who might be deserving of something for which they care so little. We would go through a rigorous selection process of picking deserving customers. And that’s like picking my favorite kid! I can’t do that!*

A couple big goings on before we share the lameness with you. We’ve outgrown our building. Again. We’re currently working with architects and engineers and all those other fancy people to outfit a space that’s double our current size! We hope to move into the new facility by mid 2022.

The other thing…when we first bought Tech Optics, we imagined it being a completely separate thing. Like a different company. We then realized that was kind of silly. I have a massive list of why it was silly, but anyways, we’re combining into one company operationally. Long term vision is that like EVERYTHING is integrated, but that’s kinda hard. So we’ll work on one thing at a time, and we’ll get there.

Moving on. In addition to the letter this year, we’re doing a different type of calendar. We’ve noticed that people go pretty crazy for puppies, kittens, and babies. In fact, people go SO crazy that some companies exploit that by donating a bit of money to sponsor guide dog puppies just so they can milk the puppy’s cuteness on social media! We’re not hacks like that…yet. We’re still working to get to that level of shamelessness. But just you wait, we’ll get there.

Our initial foray into shamelessness: The Chadvent Calendar. Available now at chadvent.com.

25 contributions of cuteness from our team. The Theme: Plants, Pets and Progeny. Cute pets. Cute kids. And when the kids are in their awkward (and smelly) adolescent phase, we’ll spare you pictures and share with you a literary analysis of Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham by Nicholas Saccarelli.

On to the family news!

• John accidentally played chicken with a 10 point buck in his car and won. Kinda like the tractor scene in Footloose. John is Kevin Bacon.
• Julie hit her 400th hot yoga class. Not a lot of people know this, but when you get to your 500th hot yoga class, you’re officially enlightened. Or your skin melts. TBD.
• Tom enjoys spending sunny summer weekends at Gunnison Beach. Down with tan lines!
• A barefoot Stephanie married Kenzie. Kenzie also married Stephanie. They both work here.
• Lexi took her Jeep on some trails.
• Renee learned that she has an unhealthy obsession with serial killer podcasts. Well, she doesn’t think it’s unhealthy. We do.
• Jenn learned the art of powerwashing, though some still insist it’s a science.
• Jaime took her daughter Avery on a road trip to upstate New York. There was a cool waterfall.
• Missy dusted off her oven mitts and started baking again after a 7 year hiatus. The crew at Chadwick is VERY appreciative.
• The ever-overachieving Esmerlin had a 2nd kid, flew a Cessna with his 1st kid in the backseat, and continues to improve his woodworking skills.
• Michelle is expecting a baby. For now, she makes the rules regarding where to order lunch from.
• Savannia bought her first home and is remodeling it. When she’s done, we’re hoping she’ll lend some of her design input to our new building.
• Matt had twin girls, and is learning how to survive on 3 hours of sleep a night.
• Blackout Brian Brennan got a new car, and briefly considered wearing white, but ultimately decided not to.
• Gail had her first grandchild, and we recently learned that she often suffers from Saturday Night Fever!
• Alex passed his ABO Advanced test THE FIRST TIME. He also flew a plane.
• Charlie quit all social media, stopped reading the news, and earned the trail name “Crazy.”
• Kathy had her second grandchild, and has maintained a somewhat cordial relationship with her yard geese.
• Amanda set a new personal record for “nights slept outside” and is taking a painting class.

Love,
Charlie and Jenn