Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year!  Hoping this letter finds you and your family enjoying another wonderful holiday season.

I'm always amazed at how much we have done and experienced and changed each year when I write this and look back over the previous twelve months This year started out with some very big milestones for us.

January was a beautiful month.  We started out the month going under contract to buy our new home.  Carter was super busy enjoying all of the presents and toys from Christmas.  

January is always a nice month as things slow down from the holidays but this year we were anxiously awaiting a very special little present our new baby girl.  

January 31st we welcomed Kalliope Cace Bergeron to our family. (Middle name pronounced like Case)

She came out happy and healthy and right out of the gate had feet big enough that her and carter could wear the same socks!  Super convenient.  Caitlin didn't approve necessarily but I made sure to demonstrate on multiple occasions that it worked.  

February came and went like a blur.  Kalliope came home and Carter was smitten right away.  He's an excellent big brother.  Always wanting to help with feeding her and getting diapers.  It was too cute and sometimes maybe a bit too helpful.  

Carter also had a blast going to the library each week for story and activity time with Grandma.

Mid February we closed on our new home and began renovations.  We are hoping to have this project completed before hosting Christmas this year.  Just need a couple more days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNgYG1cJutQ  

It's been awesome though getting settled in and having just a tremendous amount of help from family and friends to get this place close to the finish line.   Caitlin's favorite part so far besides us being almost done was definitely the day we removed the old floors.  Menards didn't have the tool we planned to use for rental so she rented a huge jackhammer.  Everyone had a blast with it and the floor put up a good fight but it didn't stand a chance. 

In came March!  Caitlin and her mother got to take an awesome girl's weekend road trip to Kentucky and then Nashville.  Years ago they went on a road trip and visited Makers Mark where Caitlin had her name put on a cask (whiskey barrel) as part of their Ambassadors program.  The time had finally come to bottle that deliciousness up.  They then went to Nashville to enjoy some music and good times.  They highly recommend the bus/trolley tour of the city.  Their only regret was that they didn't get a selfie at the Taylor Swift Wings Mural when there was no line in the morning.   When they got back we had a bunch of treasures to unload - stocked up for the coming months :) 

Carter went bowling for the first time. He had a wonderful time and we are both proud and embarrased that he beat everyone else by not just a few points.   He did have bumpers up but admittedly we all did so....yeah.

In March the demo phase of our remodel continued - we filled our first rolloff.  I'd like to say that was it and we began the construction phase but if you have ever done any diy or watched that hilarious dude dad video you know that one of the phases is that the project always expands. So we ordered a second rolloff. You'll see later it was worth it.

April, so much happened in April.  If you were to ask Carter the most important thing that happened was when we got new pallet forks for his tractor and he insisted that we test them out by moving some precious cargo -ASAP.

Carter also began conducting "science".  He was absolutely fascinated by putting balloons above the air purifier and watch then swirl around and around.

As the spring weather started to set in Caitlin picked up her Harley from storage and had a good ride and then on Easter we set a new personal record: 53 seconds in church before Carter was carried off the kids room.  I don't brag but super proud.

Yard cleanup began and as our house remodel project continued our new subfloor arrived.  We also had a wonderful time picking out the new countertops.

During May we moved into our new home as the kids began daycare.  Carter's first day went really well except when I went to pick him up I was met at the door by the Director.  Bracing myself for whatever this conversation would be she showered Carter with praise for how polite he was...not unexpected if you've met him but never the conversation you expect getting called into the "principles office" on the first day lol. 

We also celebrated with family down in Black River when we attended our niece Breckyn's graduation.  Pretty good looking family photo :)  We're very proud of her.

Last but not least, Kalli learned to rollover. Pretty cool!

June is where we realized that once again we were going to blink summer would be over and we had barely started enjoying it.  It was an odd year for us, less adventures as we spent more time at home working on the house and letting the kids get settled in their new daycare/home.

Carter continued to prove himself as an excellent helper.  It was very rare that he took important parts, giggled, and ran away parts never to be seen again.  House progress continued with Caitlin's new windows getting installed - officially making the second roll off worth it.

We enjoyed some swims in the pool and a few trips to the farmer's market in Green Bay - one of our favorite saturday activities in Summer.

Summer adventures continued in July.  We spent some time at the lake - Carter went tubing for the first time and loved it.  That little dude absolutely loves water.

We took some summer roadtrips and explored some of the closer areas of the Michigan UP - some roads that aren't really roads and could really test your suspension.  

Kalli continued to grow like a little weed and every day her personality came out more and more.  She's the first one to tell you what's on her mind but just radiates cuteness.

The house project took another big step forward when the flooring went in.  I could say with the great help of my brother Nick but I like to be honest it was all Nick and Caitlin.  I mostly fed them materials and fetched tools.  He's an absolute wizard at piecing that flooring together and cut no corners.  It looked awesome and after having the subfloors in for about a month while we worked on other pieces it really helped turn a corner of making the place feel more like a home and less like a construction site.

Also at the end of July corn season began and grilled corn is one of Carter's favorite foods, that and ice cream.  He's definitely a summer kid.

The transition to August found me in Kentucky.  Had a wonderful time on a work trip and met some very excellent people there.  I didn't get the same tour experience as Caitlin on her earlier trip but I did manage to make it out to see the maker's distillery even if it was after hours - I also got lost on some back roads that were interesting at best.

It was way later in the year than we had hoped but we put our first food plots in.  They green'd up quickly and we did see some nice deer traffic on them.  We had a blast as we got into the fall watching the deer at our new place especially a pair of fawns that were born in the grass behind the house and grew up on our cameras.  

Kalli found her new favorite snack - my hats.  It's a real problem.

One of my favorite memories from august though (even more than tractoring/burning diesel) was a weekend trip Caitlin and I took to Minneapolis.  It was a fun date weekend where we stayed in a neat botique hotel (Hotel Hewing) and enjoyed some of the restaurants around the area.  We also went to a movie theater that had been on our list to see the Meg 2.  It was a drafthouse cinema and just a very cool experience compared to a traditional move theater.  The kids had a great weekend staying with their Aunt MM and Uncle Nate.  By the time we picked them up they were completely tuckered.

As september came we took the kids to my parents for what we call Deersgiving.  It's our completely fictional made up holiday weekend to kick off "deer camp prep" which is clearing and dragging the trails, checking stands, being in the woods.  Growing up hunting we always usually ended our deer season with a morning hunt on Thanksgiving and so as we got older and we all kind of come together to start doing this fun work out in the woods at the beginning of september we though Deersgiving was a great way to bookend the season.  We learned that weekend that Kalli is a natural at riding the atv.

The other big thing that happened in september was our huge garage/thrift/rummage sale.  Caitlin made up a bunch of awesome signs to put out since we live in the country down not super frequented roads.  My personal favorite was the "Husband wants his garage back sale!".  It was a lot of work but overall a resounding success and the people that came to visit seemed to have a good time digging for their new treasures.  We also met some of the neighbors which was nice.

Full disclosure if anyone is looking for an awesome one of a kind tiger art piece that is still available!  Could look great in YOUR house :)

October was a hard month.  Let's talk about the good stuff first.  In reverse order the kiddos had a blast on Halloween trick or treating.  We found a really cool neighborhood and Carter in his dino costume walked for days, carried his bucket, and had his trick or treat script down pat.  Kalli was a cute fawn and enjoyed the time completely snuggled in the wagon.  The local fire department had their fire truck out and so Carter got to climb up.  Very cool new fire truck that was colored like charlie brown Orangeish/yellow and Brown/black.  

This october Cailtin also got to check an item off of her wishlist that we didn't manage with Carter.  She always wanted a picture of the little baby in a pumpkin.  So... in true Matt style I found the largest gourd (that was super heavy and a surprisingly good deal) and Carter helped us clean it out for Kalli.   Turns out though that little baby girls are way less interested in posing for pictures and instead when teething become super fascinated with how cold the gourd (fruit) is and how great it feels on those teething gums.  We did manage to get some good pictures but it took a few takes. 

October also brought the annual fish fry at Caitlin's dads. His fish is always excellent but this year he must have caught some pretty special ones because man they were delicious.  Pumpkins didn't come in this year but that didn't hamper the family from taking a wagon ride through the tree fields.  It was an absolutely awesome time.

So while we are on the topic of tree fields.  One of the cool things about our new home is that we have a christmas tree field.  Caitlin's family has trees in their blood and this year was the first year I got to start experiencing the annual cycle of being a tree farmer.  Full disclosure - I was experiencing it as a spectator for the most part.  We have someone who grows/manages/sells the trees.  In October they started cutting and boy oh boy was that neat.  By the time they were done we have the driveway lined with piles of trees so tall.  Coolest part is while it's a business you know that these trees are going to peoples homes as a reminder of the spirit of the holidays.  Hundreds of little kiddos get to wake to presents under the trees that grew right here.  Not to mention the fields smelled like fresh pine for weeks.  So much better than when we lived in Marshfield and the neighbor farmers started fertilizing our bordering fields. Much Much Better.

Ok so now for the hard but important part.  October brought some very unexpected news.  My uncle Craig Bergeron passed away.  God called him home but he sure left a big hole in our hearts.  Anyone who knew him could talk for days but what I'll say is that he was a man that loved and cared so hard.  After our house fire he called every week to check in and see how things were going.  Even from two states away (and sometimes further depending on where his trucking took him) he loved you like you were right next to him.  Any question you ever had he'd always pickup the phone and have some sage advice - even if it was the tough love you needed but didn't want.   One of the hardest things this year going into the holidays is knowing he's only with us in spirit.  He's home and at peace but boy we sure liked having him here.

November comes with a disclosure - this is a heavy picture month so enjoy.  

As we closed the chapter on October we shift to what might be one of the best months out of the year.  November.  Why is November one of the best months.  While you could say it's because the weather can be anywhere from 85 degrees and 1000% humidity all the way to -23 before windchill and six feet of snow.   But I would say it's because November is the month of Deer Camp.  Boy did we have some fun hunting this year.  We hosted two hunting weekends with my parents and brothers in November - the first when my Dad and brother Jake came up to help us finish a milestone achievement on the house project - trimming out the new windows.  They saw a few deer while they were out but mostly it was just some good fresh air therapy and good times.

Big upgrades this year for Deer Camp as well.  Grandma and the Kids made new trail signs for the woods including some almost to scale maps complete with legends and color that we posted up.  The old signs were awesome but had reached EOL (end of life).

This was Kalliope's first year at Deer Camp proper and we made sure to get her into the stand while we had good weather.  This year we definitely had that... almost t-shirt weather out there.  Deer didn't seem to mind too much and she was an absolutely cutie and did such a good job.  Carter came out a couple of times.  He was good until we ran out of snacks, lost his boot on the trail in the dark, and ran out of propane for the heater.  Looking forward to many more seasons with my two hunting buddies.  A dad couldn't ask for more.

I'm only going to tell one hunting story in any detail because if you've ever been around deer camp especially Wisconsin deer camp you'd know that the stories go on for days.  Outside of this great story I'll say that we had a wonderful time.  We took some nice does early in the gun season and later in the week on Thanksgiving my brother Jake got a buck that our niece had spotted and then sent over his direction - It's a great story but you'll have to ask them.. Like I said we could talk for days.

Outside of Deer Camp, early november the tree harvesting was in full swing and later in the month Nick and Oliver came up for a few days.  They helped us with flooring the bathroom in the house and picked out some Christmas trees for their family.  They picked out a good one.

Well.  We've arrived.  If you've read this far thank you and even if you didn't thank you.  Despite my best intentions I'm sitting finishing this two days prior to Christmas but that's alright.  I enjoy looking back at everything this year and even though this is a long form letter complete with way too many pictures I also know that it's only a brief sliver of the epic things that we were up to this year.

To wrap up a few things. At the beginning of the month I installed a toilet in the guest bathroom so that it was ready for the holidays per my beautiful lady's request.  Quick word of warning we purchased the American Standard Titan as it was advertised to be able to flush an entire bucket of golf balls without plugging.  Well it hasn't plugged but it's flushing capabilities were far exaggerated.  In case you're in search for a new porcelain throne avoid this one. 

The last of the ship lap went up in the living area yesterday.  There's still a little bit down the hallway to do and a bathroom that will be finished as part of the 2024 renovation project continued but as we close in on almost a year we're finally feeling settled and excited to have family and friends over to celebrate the holidays with us.

The kids are doing great.  We baked cookies with Caitlin's mom and Carter was a great help unwrapping all the candies and mixing up the different batters.  He loves helping in the kitchen.

One more cool thing for christmas we sent Mom and Dad to this event place called Miracle at Big Rock.  They had an absolutely epic time and despite what you'll see in the christmas cards we had made up for them they do take some really good photos.  It was awesome to see they had such a good time.  They said "Highly Recommend - Would go again."

Well the children are all nestled snug in their beds and It's good to be home.  

Have a Merry Christmas and a Most Excellent of New Years. 

Love from Our Family to Yours,

The Bergerons (Matthew, Caitlin, Carter, Kalliope, Harvey, Amara, Cat 1, Cat 2, and the fish)...Please god no more pets in 2024.