2013 Christmas Letter

Up until last July, I held the title of the perfect parent. My advice and counsel was admired and highly respected by no one. As I progressed in my scholastic years, I realized how little I knew and when my son was born, I found that I knew even less. Without any doubt, Binyamin's birth is the pinnacle of this past year not only for us but his grandparents as well. However, we will leave the best for last. (Feel free to skip if you're already bored, we'll never know.)

This past Spring Traci and I made the trek to Long Beach, WA in our 1979 Cherokee Chief. Our goal was to enjoy one last trip without the need to focus our full attention on a little one. We got to see the world's largest skillet and daffodils by the thousands. The trip in the vehicle was quite adventurous as the Chief doesn't have overdrive and our throw out bearing gave out while driving through Portland. Although memorable, perhaps the highlight of the trip was being able to drive on the beach and enjoy a campfire. How many places can you actually do that? Many perhaps, it's a big world. It's always a treat to spend time at the ocean and overall it was a great trip.

It seems like each year we bring up our 1948 Plymouth and this year is no different. This year we dedicated numerous hours on getting the Plymouth to run. From fiddling with the carburetor to adjusting the oil pressure gauge numerous times and figuring out why the sending unit would not send anything; the Plymouth proved that we are not mechanics. However with the help of a few key players, (uncle Jeff and Eddy) we were able to hear the engine run. Our goal was to pick up Binyamin from the hospital in the Plymouth but we ran out of time. Now that the engine runs, we must focus on making sure the car will slow down… Hobbies, we all have one.

This past summer we celebrated our five-year anniversary. To enjoy our personal holiday, we crossed the Cascade Range and spent the day in Tacoma with our friend Ben Blood. We visited Hello Cupcakes, the LeMay Auto Museum and ate at the Spaghetti Factory. Binyamin was able to visit Seattle for the first time although he probably won't remember it. It was a short one-night trip and great to celebrate another anniversary with my best friend… Well, two best friend now.

Now perhaps you might be asking yourself why did we take our Christmas photo with our Jeep Cherokee? Well, this fall marks 10 years since I acquired the Jeep. I was a freshman in College with not much to my name. In fact, my complete set of possession could fit in my Jeep. The Jeep got a lot of use and received little maintenance through my college years. It's been to California 3 times, Montana and numerous times to Seattle. It's seen many logging roads, and driven on the Beaches and sand dunes of the Oregon Coast a few times. It was the car I owned while I courted Traci, the vehicle we drove on our honeymoon and driven to the hospital when Binyamin was ready to enter this world. There have been times when I was amazed at the car and others were I wanted to scrap it. But I will quote Mercedes Benz with a commercial they aired several years ago. "Nothing makes a driver more loyal to its car, than a car that is loyal to its driver."

Now lets go back to the epic event of the year. This past July, our lives changed from amazing to hilariously amazing. Yes, we are required to say that it's great to be parents. But the honest truth is that being parents is the utmost greatest experience by far. It's a surreal experience. His name is Binyamin Clifford and he is one kid who likes to smile. Currently he likes to be held which is ok because in a year he will be running around our un-child-proof home. He enjoys going on walks around the neighborhood, chewing on his fingers, playing with toys that rattle and waking up from naps as soon as we begin to get comfortable. When Traci comes home from work he begins to kick, swing his arm and his smile goes from ear to ear. Although sitting in a chair for hours isn't his favorite activity, he has been able to travel and see 8 states by the time he was 8 weeks old. His first bed has been a Radio Flyer red wagon and the first car he ever rode in was our 1957 Chevy.

Two thousand and thirteen has been a great year with a several laughs here and there. If you would like to see the extended version of our year, feel free to visit www.jgalan.com.

(Thanks mom for taking the picture).