A letter from the President – Merry Christmas

December 25, 2020

Merry Christmas,

Spoiler alert, all my children will receive a custom wrapped roll of Toilet Paper for Christmas as a reminder of 2020.  

Can anyone remember last Christmas, or has our short-term memories become blurry?  Twelve months wasn’t that long ago, but it seems like a lifetime.  So, what will we do with 2020, besides give it a swift kick in the rear at 11:59 PM on 12/31? 

I have always looked forward to Christmas and as a child I could never go to sleep Christmas eve in anticipation of Christmas morning.  I love Christmas movies like, “White Christmas”,  “It’s a Wonderful Life”, “Elf”, “Grinch” and “Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer”, but my favorite is, and always has been is “Charlie Brown”.  If you are a fan of Charlie Brown, you know ole Charlie Brown is often finding himself on the wrong side of a decision.  In Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown is task with finding a tree for the school play and brings back a scrawny tree that has become symbolic of all bad Christmas trees.  His classmates mock him and say, “you are hopeless Charlie Brown” then in total frustration, Charlie Brown shouts, “does anyone know what Christmas is all about?”  Linus steps forward and says, “sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about,” Linus then quotes from Luke 2.  Linus is Charlie Brown’s trusted friend who always carries his blue security blanket everywhere he goes.  What is little known about this scene, is that when Linus comes to, “and the shepherds were very afraid and the angel said, do not fear,” at that moment, Linus drops his security blanket on the stage. 

When I reflect back on 2020, there is a tsunami of emotions.  The Covid Virus has made its mark in 2020, but it will be up to us whether or not to declare it the victor.  To a large degree, what I’ve discovered in 2020 is that normalcy had become my security blanket and somewhere along the journey of 2020, God said to me, “do not fear.”

Many of us have similar experiences of the bizarre combination of tragedy and joy this year.  I, like so many of you are looking forward to turning the pages toward 2021, but what will we carry forward from 2020?  The answer to that question will be different for us all, but it is worth taking a minute to consider.  For me, we got to see the best and the worst, and best prevailed.  We were tempted with division, but United we still stand.  We were challenged with the change, and we adapted.  We looked directly into the eyes of doubt and did not flinch. 

Our team has demonstrated what it is to “Own-it” and I’m honored to be a part of this great team.

So long 2020, we will never forget you, because we grew through you. 

Merry Christmas,

Billy D.

President and CEO

Threaded Fasteners, Inc.

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