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There’s been quite a bit going on this year that has pushed our normally December-delivered card into celebrating our most joyous of quadrennial holidays. (Besides...“Leap”? Ninjas? It works, right?) For starters, you’ll notice the return address on this card is from Michigan! Yup, in late September Dianna’s old Scout Executive hinted that there might be an exciting position waiting for her up north. Now, we love Texas, but the prospect of being closer to family, especially with an 18 month old Winchester, certainly peaked out interest. So Geoff started the process of daydreaming through resumes and before he knew it, had been offered a position as a web developer for Kettering University (fka The General Motors Institute). So after a wonderful rental house was secured on the Flint River in Flushing, Michigan Geoff and Letzty loaded up the Jeep and trailer and made the 1600 mile journey north. Soon after, Dianna was invited to join the Michigan Crossroads council as their Cub Camping Director, overseeing the cub scouting program throughout the entire lower Michigan peninsula. Both our new positions are incredible new opportunities, with amazing new colleagues and the chance to make a real and positive impact in our communities.

That’s not to say we were twiddling our thumbs before the great northern migration. This year was filled with all sorts of adventures, including a 1956 Ford 600 Tractor, a new 48” Toro zero turn, Letzty’s wonderful doppelganger foster Cooper, and a flock of chickens named Chanticleer, Falcon, Tippy, Wingding, Donna, Ginny, Ginger, Amy, Cara, Mel, Toppin, Smokey, Radar, Rodger, Doger, Breaker, Stick, Nugget and Henrietta, not to mention chasing around an increasingly vocal and mobile Winchester.

So while trading our country adventures for a suburban lifestyle may seem a like a strage change, it’s a welcome opportunity to slow down and spend more time with grandparents, siblings, and various fuzzy family members.

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What, you don't celebrate Leap Day?

To be pair, the silly "traditions" I'm referring to are actually a pretty recent phenomenon. It was originally a plot device for a 30 Rock episode of the same name. If you haven't ever watched 30 before, it is a fantastic show and the 'Leap Day' episode is a textbook example of it taking concepts and running with them. The premise of the episode is that Leap Day is an established holiday like St. Patrick's Day or Valentine's Day with it's own traditions, story, and central character. When the episode orignally came out a week or two before Leap Day in 2012, it made for a fun event to incorporate the bits from the show into real life (as it was a popular enough show at the time that a lot of people would get the references).

Leap Day traditions include:

• Pinching those who don't wear blue and yellow
• Leap Day William, who only comes ashore every 4 years
• The classic Jim Carrey movie 'Leap Dave Williams' (in the vein of 'Liar Liar' and 'The Santa Clause')

So when the move to Michigan/back-and-forth from Texas/trips to NY/trips to MA/family trip to Floria and 8,000 miles of traveling pushed back the Christmas card, it seemed like the perfect holiday to move it to. The card has very little to do with specifically Christmas anymore anyhow. And as a bonus, it's not a holiday I can use as an excuse for another 3 years! So hopefully next year's will be on time.

So go ahead and get dressed in your best blue and yellow, pop on Netflix or Hulu, and prep for celebrating the most underrated holiday around.

Remember..."Real life is for march"

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