Some families in my life write a christmas letter each year. Shout out to the Bangmas and the Vissers and the Beahans, for example. I think it’s a cool idea and have occasionally suggested it to the family. Well they think its a cool idea too! But we never manage to get it together in time. Last Christmas, 2024, I actually made a rough draft of a Christmas letter which represents a new personal record for how close we’ve come, but still didn’t get it across the line.

I decided to still share the draft because even though it isn’t the traditional season for the letter, it still sheds some light on what I’ve been up to for the last five years that I wasn’t blogging. And I’m sharing it in draft form to help me get in the habit of posting blogs more often and not waiting until they are perfect, which is usually never.

The Draft Letter

Ho ho ho Fam,

Congratulations on being selected to receive the first annual (maybe) Orndorff Family Holiday Letter 🚀

There is a little bit to catch you up on since our wedding in 2019. We’ll be quick.

2019 - Married, Pregnant, Alaska

2020 - Forest born, Joshy’s Purestake/Moonbeam job

2021 - Family Arizona trip, Cousin Syd’s Graduation, New house

2022 - Joshy worked on PBA

2023 - Riley born, Julie oversaw master bathroom remodel, Joshy taught two more PBAs, family california trip.

So now for 2024

Joshy

Joshy taught at his 4th Polkadot Blockchain Academy in Hong Kong in January and his 5th in Singapore in June. But the jetlag, the stress of ever-growing class sizes, and the adjustment to parenting two children proved too much and Joshy has now retired from the PBA.

Joshy also had a good running season this fall possibly sparked by a Calvin College friends reunion over the summer. This was his first serious running season since he stopped coaching at Pingry in 2017.

Some highlights of the running season:

• 4 consecutive weeks at 30 miles per week.
• 11 consecutive weeks at or above 20 miles per week.
• An 8.5 mile run.
• A 22:28 5k.

While the season was a success overall, it was heavily running focused and more rounded training would be better. Another problem I encountered was my feet being sore each morning as my mileage got higher. And the hardest part of all was that my motivation ran out just before I reached the end of the season. I did manage to hold out by scraping the bottom of the barrel. But it was too challenging to get going again after my target race halloween monster mash. A week off turned into two and then into “hopefully not more than a month” and then into skipping the turkey trot. Nonetheless, this was the best season in a while and I have high hopes for next year.

Joshy’s dad, Waynie, invited him to join some friends and neighbors on a motorcycle trip around Lake Huron. Joshy rode his 1981 Yamaha Maxim XJ 650 - the same bike he bought in 2012 as a way to get home from summer camp and has done all the maintenance since. It had been in rough shape the past few years, but is finally ripping again. Now to get the Coxe family boat in that condition.

Finally, Joshy has gotten back into the back Creed, his first favorite band in 7th grade. Joshy and Julie went on the Creed cruise this spring and saw the 3rd and 4th Creed shows of the reunion. Forest loves them now too and this has gotten Joshy back into playing guitar. The family band lineup is Joshy on guitar, Forest on Drums, Julie on vocals flute keys and other stuff, and riley drooling on a bass guitar (or chewing on a shake-egg when Forest is willing to share the percussion section). Hopefully Tyty and Sarah will come jam again soon too.

Forest

• Drums
• Running

Riley

First full year of life!

Julie

• Japan Trip
• Teaching Art classes
• Custom Clothes (at least osa’s but other cool ones too) This has been a full year for Julie. She had so many fun guests visiting throughout the year as Joshy went to his PBA sessions…

House / Family / Misc

• Maple Syrup
• New Barn roof
• Solar
• Garage drywall

To the 2025 Letter 🍻

Publishing this letter (late, on my blog, and as a draft) represents a new PR for the Christmas letter. Maybe 2025 will be the year we finish it, add photos, and send it out.

Happy New Year!