Christmas Letter 2025

Dear Friends and Family,

This year someone asked the kids what I do for work, after thinking for a few seconds they responded, “He goes to lunch”. That is a good way to sum up the year. After nearly 18 months in Texas, we are still searching for a business, still putting down roots, and I am still going to lunch. 

Having our family nearby and them continuing to be healthy, happy, and helpful is a cheat code in life. I may have made some dumb decisions in my life, but living near grandparents wasn’t one of them. We are able to be part of all the birthday, holiday, and life events for our family. It’s not unusual to have 20+ people show up in support. I recognize that everyone doesn’t have that option, or they aren’t always helpful, so we continue to count our blessings.

Speaking of counting, Heidi and I both turned 40 this year. That always seemed old, until it was us, now it just means we have a lot of old friends (I’m probably talking about you). We were also able to take advantage of having family nearby and were able to make a few kid-less trips this year. In January we went skiing in Utah and in July we flew ourselves to Oshkosh, WI for the world's largest airshow. Heidi must really like me because we slept in a tent and looked at airplanes for three days.

Other family adventures included an airplane-appreciation trip back to Pensacola (driving instead of flying) for Spring Break. There had been complaints about flying, but by lunchtime, when the kids realized we still had more than seven hours to go and could have already been there, appreciation for flying was restored. We also made it back to Fernandina Beach for the biannual Hans family trip, all of us in one big beach house (plus a bonus guest this year — the stomach bug).

In October we made a trip to Indiana for a Dexter family reunion and later in the month we flew to Omaha, NE for a fall break trip and for the kids to see all the things I remembered growing up (btw Omaha was way more fun than we expected, worthwhile trip even if not reliving 30 years ago).

I also had a solo trip earlier in the year where I was able to fly myself to nearly all of our properties in six states over three days. It was a decade in the making as I remember having a plan all the way back in 2015 to buy enough real estate, far enough away that it would make sense to have an airplane. Really cool to go full circle. I also knocked off some rust and started flying civilian helicopters on the side, with the goal of eventually instructing and networking with helicopter owners. That plan is currently on pause as life got busy.

The headline family news of the year: everyone is now potty trained. That deserves its own Christmas ornament or something.

The other headline: we're now homeschooling three kids. Heidi now teaches 4th, 2nd, and Kindergarten while also playing chauffeur to a very enthusiastic preschooler. In addition to her regularly scheduled duties of holding down the house, with a husband who "goes to lunch." We still believe that homeschool is the right plan for us long term, but don’t judge us as we occasionally begin searching for boarding schools. Heidi remains the MVP—now in her 10th consecutive season.

Lily – 9. Soccer, ballet, choir, piano, and a 14-show marathon of The Gift of Christmas where she sparkled while the rest of us rearranged our lives around rehearsals. She also made a personal profession of faith and was baptized this year. She still thinks she runs the house, she is pretty like her mommy and thinks like her daddy, which is a potent combination.

Dexter – 8. Soccer, flag football, and all the sports. He had a monster leg as the goalie and was the quarterback for his football team. He too made a personal profession and was baptized at the same time as Lily. Dexter went to Uncle Drew’s summer camp for the first time (very reluctantly) but now talks about it all the time if still unsure if he wants to go again. He is still our sensitive guy with a sly sense of humor and his cackling laugh during reruns of America’s Funniest Home Videos is both sweet and terrifying.

Max – 5. Kindergarten started this year, and he’s probably the most natural and excited student of the bunch. This fall he tried taekwondo, turns out he really likes punching and kicking. He continues to be our theologian, while also learning how to get attention as a middle child in a gaggle of siblings, not always by being a saint. He also lost teeth in the most random places; here’s hoping they all come back.

Huxton – 3. Our wildcard. Huxton has one volume: loud. He’s equally happy playing alone or forcing his siblings to include him. He really learned to swim this summer and immediately became far too confident in his fledgling skills. He’s most often seen shirtless, with a bruised head, wearing a football helmet, and running laps around the house. His speech has fully arrived; there’s no mystery about what Huxton wants anymore.

On the work front, I spent this year in a full‑time search for a small business to buy in DFW. Every month has felt like "this could be the one” and yet here we are. It's a weird in-between season, a mid-career break, and also a gift to have some downtime with a young family. I have an office a few miles away, have made a lot of offers, taken hundreds of meetings, and been to a lot of lunches. I have no doubt that I am on the right track, but my estimate for how long this would take was probably a little short-sighted.

Very few people are looking for new friends at 40 — we don’t care, we’re making them anyway. We’re settling into our church, finding our people, and waiting on what’s next.

So if you’re in Dallas, don’t be a stranger. Come join the circus and maybe grab lunch.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

God Bless,

Jeremy, Heidi, Lily, Dexter, Maxwell, and Huxton