Christmas 2010 from Nathan

Note: Casey will probably writer a much better version of this.

Eight years of doing this Holiday letter thing. How American of me! Which makes me want to make sure you know, I am now an Austrican. That is an Australian American in case you did not know. I became an American on August 4th, President Obama’s birthday. You can read about all the shananigans on my blog.

It has been a year of challenges, with many amazing highlights! The Inn has been a challenge. We do ok, but not ok enough to travel (to Australia if no where else) and generally live a comfortable stress free lifestyle. We have spent a lot of time working with a Small Business Development Center, Economic Advisor, in the past few months. We also are working with one of Casey’s old colleagues who now works for a different Credit Union. So to cut a long story short. We were close to doing our dream expansion, but the financial black hole that is the Gig Harbor Duplex, put the kibosh on it. The bright side is we may still be able to do a refinance on the Inn and be looking better for it!

So to sum up that crappy stuff, we love Innkeeping. We love our Bed & Breakfast. Something has to give though! If it was not for the generosity of my parents we would be stuffed. So we are considering everything and anything right now. Selling it all. Moving to Australia. Living in a yurt. Living on a boat. Living in a regular house. I have applied for a couple of jobs. Came a close second for a Hotel Manager position. None of it was meant to be! So there must be something great around the corner!

We also said goodbye to Carrot the cat. He was miserable around Lauren and we worked with the boarding place to get him placed with a good family. With his physco-alopecia he was looking awful. We said he was best suited to a home with a little old lady and no dogs. He is missed but hopefully happier!

So on to the amazing stuff that makes life worth living!

Olympia. My home, my family, friends, festivals, events, day trips, short breaks. All from this perfect little seaside town. It is a wonder more people have not heard of Olympia. We are definitely not seen as a tourist destination, but should be. It is a great place to have a family. We added Evan Franklin Allan to the mix of our family 5 months ago. He is named after his brothers Charlie and Jackson, with his name sharing the same meanings. He is so great! Lauren just loves him so much, and he gives her big smiles all the time now too. He is bigger than Lauren was. We think he is trying to catch up to her so he can join in more. The kids and Casey really make life interesting.

I was really happy to be able to volunteer and help with the creation of the Madison Avanti Giving Garden, at the local elementary school. It is a professionally designed and run vege garden for the kids. It was a lot of fun helping the whole school create a paver each, not so much fun hauling gravel and digging through clay!

We got to do a couple of short trips this year. When my parents were here we went down to Oregon and back up the coast, to show them a friend’s carriage house and yurts. Then to Seabrook, which we managed to stay at three times over the year. We love it there, and in a perfect world would be able to afford a vacation home/rental there. At least that is one of our dreams.

So to sum up, we all have our health, we have the best kids anyone could wish for. We have great friends and live in a fantastic neighborhood. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas, and I hope it is more about being with family than the crazy need for consumerism, because when it comes down to it, family and friends is all that matters!

Oh and Happy New Year! I hope 2011 surpasses your expectations!