Thanksgiving is in the rearview mirror, and the New Year looms ahead. Your cranky Uncle Frank and Aunt Alma have decamped for Florida, or Arizona, from whence they will annoy you with Facebook posts complaining about how hot it is. But first, Frank and Alma will send you their traditional year-end holiday letter! In this letter, your cousin Paul and his kids are all shining stars of virtue and accomplishment. Yeah, sure.

Not to sound cranky (or braggy) ourselves, we adopted this uniquely American tradition last year. Who did we hire? Who got engaged? Who got a new pet? We covered it all, and we’re doing it again this year. But first, a few tidbits about our year as an organization.

• You’re reading our 51^st and last Weekly Wastebasket of the year, plus
• we wrote 121 individual pieces of analysis, plus
• we produced 19 Investigative Reports, plus
• we produced 22 Budget Watchdog: AF podcasts, plus
• we commented on 10 draft regulations, plus
• we sent 20 letters to Capitol Hill.

We hired a new Executive Assistant and Operations Coordinator, Gabriela Sanchez. Gaby spent some time in NYC working in real estate before deciding Northern Virginia was the place to be. While in the Capital Area, she got a rescue dog—Matilda—

and became so interested in watchdogging that she joined TCS.

We persuaded Ike Obi to come back as our Director of Digital Media. Just call him the Boomerang Kid.

After spending the past 4 years establishing himself as a communications data nerd in the transportation sector and after some lockdown-inspired introspection, it became clear that it was time for a change. TCS offered him the chance to grow as a Digital Media Director and made him an offer too good to pass up! Although, he claims, “I’m just happy to be working with my TCS Fam again.” Also, Tyler made him try recreational kickball, and he’s now a fan.

Wendy got a new puppy named Ginny!

She (Wendy not Ginny) looks forward to reading and analyzing the Fiscal Year 2024 President’s Budget Request next year. It will be her 40^th year in a row of analyzing the Pentagon budget. And, before you ask, nothing surprises her anymore.

Continuing the new pet theme, Steve got two new kittens – Kumu and Lili’u – they have been purring over – er, poring over budget documents and disaster spending with him ever since.

Autumn turned off her laptop and her phone and spent a solid week in August lying on a (periodically renourished) North Carolina beach—if we pay for it, might as well use it. She soaked in not only the sun, but a long, hard-fought victory to update the federal oil and gas leasing system. Weird yes, but the century old oil and gas royalty rate (that lagged even the state of Texas) and rampant noncompetitive leasing would take its toll on anyone. Victories are few and far between in Washington (and sometimes 100 years in the making).

Mike is still living the dream as a middle-aged suburban dad, growing progressively rounder in the middle.

Josh is happy to report he bought a farm and is finally receiving farm subsidies. Okay, not quite, but the pilot project demonstrating the need for farm bill reform is a little closer to reality after his move to a small acreage in Virginia.

Sheila made return trips to Scotland (UK, not South Dakota), her dad’s farm,

and Washington, DC, this year. Yes, you read that right – a trip to TCS’s DC office! It was her first time there, away from her cozy work-from-home desk, since three farm bills ago, aka 2013. That, plus some forklift and 4-wheeler rides on the farm – and her kids’ pet rabbit

that’s still alive – made for a successful year!

Mia moved across the river and has been enjoying her life living in DC proper. After a few trials and errors, she thinks she finally found her go-to takeout place. She will also be getting a kitty soon at the end of the year.

Tyler, on the other hand, is happy staying on her side of the river in Virginia and enjoys being on a first-name basis with the librarians at her local Arlington branch. She looks forward to continuing to explore the greater DC area and (hopefully) bringing home the championship for her recreational kickball team next year.

Thankfully there were no coffee maker-induced water leaks in our office this year! Once a new bathroom and carpet were added, the latter part of 2022 was filled with less stressful light fixture replacements, some socially-distanced desk rearranging, and the occasional internet outage (as we speak).

If you made it this far, hats off to you and yours this holiday season. Wishing you and your family a joyous 2023! See you in the New Year!