The Connelly's Perspective

My brother, Patrick and I are now proud fathers. Patrick for the first time this year, a son, and my wife and I were richly blessed for the second time with a son earlier in 2013. Both of our new arrivals aren't even up to being good paper rippers quite yet but my oldest has a pretty good idea of what Christmas is all about - at least from the gift receiving perspective. For all of you who have young children you know how contagious their Christmas spirit can be. And if nothing else you are reminded almost daily of the items on the little one's gift lists.

Along with having young children comes a very different feeling about the Christmas Season. My extended family has always placed special emphasis on Christmas but as a father I have a renewed appreciation for the true meaning of the Season. I pray each of you share in that wonderful feeling.

But as a business owner I've come to understand that Christmas and all it represents is something that must be at the core of how we treat others each and every day. Our customers and our employees are part of the Landscape Supply family. We depend on each and every person in those two groups to insure our corporate vitality and success. So what's been on my mind is the need to be "in the spirit" year round, 24x7.

The next question you might ask is how? Well, we must corporately live our brand EVERY day. By that I mean we must be 100% committed to being "givers" and not "takers". To joyfully go the extra mile whenever asked or when we see doing so is simply the right thing to do.

We must be willing to present products and services with value as the cornerstone of our offering them for sale. We must be good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us and to that end we must be profitable but highly competitive. And in so doing we must always be environmentally responsible. Most importantly, all of us at LSI want to demonstrate a joyful spirit, always present a smile and be an encouragement regardless of circumstances.

Certainly problems and challenges will confront us all. But as they inevitably come our way it is my sincere commitment to do so with the same Christmas spirit we are all feeling this month. All of the Connelly's will work very hard in 2014 to instill this attitude in each member of our employee family and reinforce the need to exhibit Christmas spirit all year long.

May you and yours be blessed in the Season and in the coming New Year.

Merry Christmas,

Kevin, Patrick and Kip Connelly & All of the LSI Family