The Christmas Letter

While Christmas comes only once a year, posts from me (Josh) come a little more frequently.  But not by much.  Well, you're in luck.  I've been charged with composing the annual Christmas letter for Spickler Family West.  (And also, I'm supposed to be funny.)  So, here goes.

Let's see, where to start?  Hmmmm.  Oh yeah, that's right.  About two weeks into this year we had a baby.  I haven't slept past 6:30AM since.

Did you hear the one about the three nuns that go into a bar?

Thank you. Thank you very much.  I'll be here all week.  Please don't forget to tip your waitresses. 

Seriously though.  This has definitely been the year of Walt.  (Actually, according to the Chinese, Walt's birthday fell during the year of the Monkey.  That's not too far off.)  While he's not quite swinging from the trees yet, he has enriched our lives immeasurably.  I'm sure many of you have checked out this site a few times and kept up with his development.  For those of you who haven't, Walt's entire first year is pretty well documented on this site, so if you want a detailed accounting of every smile, sneeze and sunburn (yes, already), then get busy surfing and call in sick to work tomorrow 'cause it's large.   Otherwise, I'll try to hit the highlights.

Aside from all of the firsts Walt has experienced, Ginger and I have had several ourselves.  About three months after Walt was born, Ginger went to work part-time for the first time in her life.  She's very blessed to have a great boss who let her set her post-Walty schedule.  After a little tweaking, she's settled into Monday, Wednesday, Friday for about 5 1/2 hours per day.  Walt goes to Mother's Day Out during those days and hangs out with Rosie and Carter and crew.  He loves it there and gets very excited both when Mommy drops him off and when she picks him up.  We think that's a good sign.

As for me, I took my first ever REAL job this past year.  After a two-year stint at the Shelby County Public Defender's Office and over three years of solo practice, I went to work for The Hardison Law Firm in July.  I've got a parking pass, a secretary AND health insurance.   They have yet to figure out that I'm not sure what I'm doing.  Shhhh.

The arrival of "the boy", as I like to call him, has not greatly affected our hectic travel schedule except that any car trip greater than 2 1/2 hours typically ends with Ginger in the back seat performing show tunes with hand puppets.  That hasn't stopped us from taking Walt to see his Nana and Putty (Sheila and Frank) and Gram and Grandaddy (Cheryl and Richard) several times.  We also made it to the beach in South Carolina in June, to Ohio for a family reunion (also in June) and to the horse races in Kentucky in April (like his Gram, he always bets on the gray horse).  We even squeezed in a trip to Chicago in October.  Walt bagged eight states in his first year.  Good times in the car seat.

More recently, Ginger and I left Walt overnight for the first time to rock out at a U2 concert in Atlanta, and  we all spent a weekend in the Smokies with Nana, Putty and Aunt Gigi (Ginger K. Spickler).  What did we learn from those two trips, you ask?  Well, 1) Ginger and I are too old for the "standing room only" seats at a big-time rock concert and 2) Walty really likes aquariums while Nana really, really doesn't like sharing her scenic, mountain cabin with a mouse.

Walty Cousteau and Putty at the Aquarium of the Smokies.

Hint: this photo is the from the cabin, but this is not the mouse.

For some reason, after running 26.2 miles in 4 hours, 19 minutes at the Memphis Marathon last December, I decided to register for another marathon and attempt to break the four-hour mark.  Thanks to a really flat course, perfect weather and incredible support from Ginger, Walt, Nana and Putty, I succeeded on October 9th by running the Chicago Marathon in 3:55.  I think I've got a problem because I'm scheduled to run the Country Music Marathon in Nashville in April.

When you're not Kenyan, you can stop and talk to your little boy during a marathon.

Although things have slowed down socially, we still enjoy dinners out occasionally and movies . . . oh let's see . . . 4 times, but who's counting?  And I think we've managed to keep most of our friends from disowning us.  It seems like many of them have added to their number this past year as well, and there are several more in the proverbial oven.

Another first: Ginger turned 30 in July for the first of many times.  Here we are at her birthday dinner.

As for Evie, she's neglected and looking for a way out.  Unfortunately for her, Walt would follow,  if they could only figure out how to get the door open.

Bottom line: we're living an incredible life, and we thank God and each of you for making it possible.  Merry Christmas.

Josh, Ginger, Walt and Evie