Dear Members, Friends, and Family,

After another tumultuous year, we’re glad to have reached this special season, when the air rings with holiday greetings from people representing so many different traditions. “Merry Snoggletog!” some of them cry. “Happy Hogswatch!” others say. “Reason’s Greetings!” you may also hear.

At CreativeFuture, we love to party, so we’ll join every holiday celebration – with permission, of course. We definitely hope to be invited whether you and your loved ones observe Prixin or The Feast of Winter Veil or Decemberween or The Nightmare Before.

Whoever you are, whatever traditions you follow, our holiday message is the same. We are so grateful for your support in the campaign against piracy. With your help, we’ve made progress despite the pandemic.

But you can read about our work another time. Right now, we’ve gathered here for our favorite winter tradition, one that can always be counted on to lift spirits, warm hearts, and give eyes a magical holiday twinkle.

That’s right, we’re sharing pet photos! Though less eagerly anticipated, yearly staff reports accompany the photos, too.

As you can see, Pugsley (on the right) has grown a lot since being adopted in 2019. (Brett Williams, our Executive Vice President of External Affairs, still insists her name is Frances, so we must agree to disagree.) Pugsley/Frances loves getting acupuncture for her back, and Beverly (on the left) has benefited immensely from water therapy. Though these pugs appear over- and under-caffeinated, respectively, they are pampered and wholesomely nourished at home with Brett.

By day, Brett has returned to the office, finally meeting some colleagues in person while keeping up with our DC friends by Zoom, which he much prefers to pre-COVID conference calls. By night, he has been hanging out with the Jennings family from The Americans. He also finished the Elena Ferrante tetralogy (are secret identities becoming a new obsession?) and ventured beyond our borders IRL for the first time in far too long. He’s eager for 2022, when he plans to travel the world as William DeBrett.

Connor Leak joined CreativeFuture as Coordinator in 2021. As our youngest teammate (by a few months), Connor has struggled to adjust to office life. We’ve introduced him to landlines, going to bed before 2 AM, and pre-2000 culture. It turns out that he loves ancient archaeology!

Despite moving to LA during the pandemic, Connor was warmly welcomed by his neighbors. Recently, he returned from a weekend trip to find one of them barricaded in his apartment smoking a cigar. Knowing that Connor can rout home invasions makes us feel safer at work. That’s why he’s the fire warden for our floor.

Donut, pictured above, enjoyed his namesake treat on his namesake holiday, thanks to Adam Krentzman, our Community Outreach Consultant. Adam assures us that the holiday in question, National Donut Day, is federally recognized. We can’t find a hole in that argument.

When Adam isn’t pet-sitting, he continues to be our “agent” of mystery and purveyor of snacks. He slips in and out of the office at all hours of the day and night, so we’re never quite sure what he’s up to – or which country he’s in. The latest photographic evidence puts him on a red-eye flight to London. Whoever he is and wherever he’s going, Adam always shows up right when we need him. One day, he’ll track down the Surf Sweets® Sour Berry Bears we crave.

After participating in the latest cultural movement sweeping the nation, The Great Resignation, Bryan Alkemeyer came to work for CreativeFuture as Senior Writer. On his first day of work, he took the wrong elevator and narrowly avoided setting off the fire alarm for the thirty-story building. He has been scraping by ever since, angsting over blogs until the eleventh hour but making new friends along the way.

Our newest team member is Office Manager Jeannie Lalau, who comes from Hawaii. She was drawn to Los Angeles by its many advantages: climate, pace of life, air quality, population density, traffic… You know, all the things that Angelenos love most about the city.

During the first half of 2021, Jeannie was a work-at-home mom who also supervised two younger kids doing online school. Every mother’s dream! She has felt so blessed to drive them to school every day since August, despite the road rage. We’re lucky to have Jeannie at CreativeFuture, where she supervises us instead of her children. We don’t need to ask which group is more challenging.

Doja used to wander around the neighborhood and chase butterflies in the garden of Communications Manager Davis Read. Now, she is the ruler of his house, the empress of all she surveys from atop her blue-and-white checkered throne. She’s really moving up in the world.

Last year, we worried Davis might be just a hologram because lockdown kept us from meeting him in person. Our return to the office revealed that Davis does in fact exist, and he’s tall – like GIANT tall. Seriously, we’re worried he’s going to leave us to play basketball for the Indiana Pacers.

When he’s not striding through the office or curating our social media, Davis likes hiking, camping, going to the beach, and getting to know Los Angeles. He celebrated one year in the city this October. We’re glad you’re real, Davis! But could you stoop a little?

For saying he had almost no idea what he did this year, Senior Director of Policy & Communications JC Taylor proved quite communicative. Proudly, he continues to line-dry his clothes, making him even crunchier than our office vegan. (Guess who it is to win a subscription to our free newsletter!)

As a good sportsman, JC wants everyone to know that he beats his employee Davis at golf every time they play. (Does that mean that JC is 0 for 0 or that Davis lets him win?) Although JC’s Peloton® has been gathering dust since gyms reopened, he fondly recalls peddling away to Attack on Titan during the pandemic. Ah, those were the days…

In 2021, Chief Executive Officer Ruth Vitale yelled until we came back to the office, where she yelled some more. We’re glad the pandemic hasn’t changed our indefatigable leader.

One of Ruth’s lifelong dreams came true this year when she got to watch police knock on a pirate’s door. She also started making electronic house calls to pirates via social media. We like to keep her energy channeled in their direction. When all else fails, we steer her clear of the news and park her in front of J-Dog’s TikTok videos. This eighty-something comedian can always send Ruth to her happy place.

We hope the holiday season finds you in your happy place, too. Thank you for your encouragement and support! You put the marshmallows on our hot chocolate, the gumdrops on our gingerbread house, the powdered sugar on our rum cake. We look forward to defending copyright alongside you for another year in 2022.

Happy Holidays! “Festivus for the Rest of Us”!

Love,

Pugsley and Beverly, Donut, Doja,

and Everyone at CreativeFuture