Christmas Was Different This Year

Christmas 2020 was bound to be different. In the weeks leading up to the holiday I tried to do a few of my traditional activities, like take a holiday laser tag photo (even though this year’s pic was taken inside my office, not at an arena).

And we added a new tradition with the lighting of the company Christmas tree (which also turned into a laser tag photo op).

And that led to an intense couple of days figuring out how to do our toy drive distribution in an atypical situation. My company coordinates this annual toy collection to help over 30 local charities, but this year we had to limit the people in the building and for the first time we had to bag and allocate toys for these charities without the help of any additional volunteers, so we figured out how to accomplish the task with only the twelve of us employees getting it done. 

Worthwhile? Absolutely! This toy drive is one of the most rewarding things I am involved with during the holidays. This year we collected and distributed 48,000 toys which the charities passed along to thousands of local families in need to make sure those kids had something special waiting for them on Christmas morning. This event warms my heart.

However, another event this Christmas morning absolutely breaks my heart. I woke up to learn about the Christmas morning explosion in Nashville. As tragic and senseless as this would be anywhere, it struck a personal chord when I read the reports that it happened directly across from the former LQ Nashville location. Although this site was already closed, seeing the news photos of Second Ave hit home with me. This was a special building and a very unique LQ. I looked back to find my photos from when I visited Nashville last year to find these pics of the LQ sign.

I don’t know whether or not it was still hanging before the explosion, but no doubt this senseless event took down one more piece of laser tag history before 2020 was over. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Nashville and my heart is just overwhelmed by it all.

Christmas 2020 was very different indeed.

Comments or Questions?

Contact: Tivia@tiviachickloveslasertag.com

Websites: www.tiviachickloveslasertag.com and www.photonforever.com