This covers the period of time since the beginning of Carolyn and Lou's (Skip's) marriage in 1962 until they quit celebrating Christmas in 2001. Every Christmas we had Lou and Carolyn's folks as company--while they were still alive--along with assorted other relatives and friends. Shortly after 2001 we decided that Christmas had mostly lost it magic. We still had family gatherings from time to time, but they were no longer connected to the Christmas holiday. Nowadays we usually just ignore Christmas--no gifts, no cards, and no decorations. We understand that it is probably good that others don't do that as our nation has become dependent on people buying lots of stuff for Christmas, but we feel privileged in that we have the freedom to just say no.

1962 was our first Christmas in our first home, an apartment in Placentia, California. Our celebration included both sets of parents and brothers David Einung and Rocky Smith.
By 1967 we had moved into a condominium in San Juan Capistrano. The usual gang was there plus Bud and Mary Gengler, Pat and Bob Husband, and John and Nancy Citso. As usual, Mary was the life of the party. The Husbands lived across the street from Carolyn's folks and the Citsos were close friends that we had met while living in Placentia. Bud and Mary Gengler were life-long friends of my folks. Bud and my Dad both went through flight training back in the late 30s.
In 1970 we were still in the San Juan Capistrano condo but that year our son Bob was born and my uncle Boyd Sutton was out for a visit.
By 1972 we had moved into a condo in la Palma, California. I had gone to work for the City of Los Angeles and Carolyn was still working at Autonetics. Bob was over two years old and very interested in opening Christmas presents. He cared more about the wrappings than the contents. In addition to the normal complement of brothers and sisters and parents, our celebration also included Larry and Sandra Hilde (also our neighbors).
Still in the La Palma condo for Christmas 1973, but this time the crowd was so big we held the main event in the community club house. Most of the regular guests were present. Sorry David--I know you hate that picture but Christy will expect to see it in the original setting.
In 1974, still in the same house, we didn't have many guests. That's probably why I only took a few photos.
By 1975 we had just moved to a new house in La Palma (with bed sheets for curtains and no landscaping) and Carolyn had graduated from College and gone to work for the City of Los Angeles. The picture of Bob with his cousin Craig was taken at Tim and Sue Smith's house in Anaheim Hills, as was the photo of Susan and Sue and Sonja. On Christmas eve Bob was very sick (see him on sofa between David and Grandma Sylvia). But shortly thereafter he was out riding his new Schwin Stingray.
By 1976 we finally had curtains and furniture for our new house. Sonja (Carolyn's mom) had brought her zany, wigged boy friend Ray along with her. As you can see, Bob had to try the wig.
Some new guests for 1977. The first photo is Dick and Patti Hilde. Dick is the brother of Larry Hilde shown in the photo to the left. Also new to our gathering is Greg Yim, Carolyn's sister Susan's husband. I believe they had just been recently married (and they still are). All the Hilde kids are here and also Susan Smith's mom Mary Nowack and sister Eileen Nowack.
This skips ahead to 1982 and yet another house. We have moved to an older two-story home in La Palma and in these photos we are close to having all the upgrades finished. The guy standing next to Sonja in the first photo was her second husband, John Zilkowski (he didn't last very long). Yah, that's me with all the facial hair. Bob is growing up and looking more like his mom every day.
It's 1983 and we are still in the same house. The first photo is of brother David and his ex-wife Susan. Carolyn's sister Susan her husband Greg were also there but only show up in the crowded dining photo.
By 1984 we had the old La Palma house looking really nice. Also, 14-year old Bob is starting to look a lot like he does today. That machine in front of him was our brand new IBM PC with two floppies and no hard drive ($5,000). There are some nice photos of Greg Yim and a not so complementary self-portrait of Skip. Life was good in 1984. .
In 1987 we moved to a home in the Fullerton hills. These photos appear to have been taken not long after we moved in. These are the first Christmas photos we have of baby Gary Yim. As you can see, he more or less stole the show. There are also pictures of Rocky and Laurie Smith, and daughter Jessica.
This was Christmas 1988, in Fullerton. The house is in much better shape now. Among the guests are Sonja's boy friend Harold, Tim and Sue Smith, Grandma Goldie, Rocky and Laurie Smith, and assorted children. Carolyn's cousin Don and his wife Vi were there (see last photo) but all you can see is the back of Don's head. We aren't sure where that photo was taken.
1989 was a distributed Christmas. Celebration was partly at our house and partly at Tim and Sue Smith's home. There is also a picture of the kitchen area in Grandma Einung's trailer.
We are still in Fullerton in 1990 but son Bob is married to Tracey Scriven from England (see last photo). As before we celebrated both at our house and at Tim and Sue Smith's home. This was one of the few holidays where Tim and Sue's son Craig and ex-wife Paige joined the group. Craig was usually either sleeping (as he worked nights) or working on holidays.
In 1991 we celebrated the holiday at Tim and Sue Smith's house. Apparently we were having such a good time that few photos were taken so only four are provided below. Tim and Sue's granddaughter Caitlyn joined the celebration.
The year 1992 was somewhat quiet during Christmas. We celebrated at our house and at Carolyn's cousin Hiedi Jansons house (also in Fullerton) as well as at Tim and Sue's house in Laguna Hills with lots of Nowacks also in attendance.
Not much action for 1994--just two photos.
In 1997 Lou and Carolyn retired from the City of Los Angeles and moved to Santa Maria. Unfortunately, they only took these two photos at Christmas time.
As the photos show, in 1999 we had a true gathering of the clan--the last major gathering at Christmas time with Rocky and Laurie and their kids Jeremy and Jessica who were all living in the area at the time.
In 2000 our Christmas gathering was mostly at Rocky and Laurie Smith's house in Santa Maria. That last photo was taken at the Disneyland hotel, near Christmas time. We met Hiromi and her new husband for lunch. Hiromi had previously been our house guest for two weeks as she participated in a program for Japanese exchange students. She had loved the U.S. and wanted her husband to see it so that was their honeymoon destination.
This 2001 Christmas was our last, in terms of doing anything special. It was not long after this that we decided to mostly ignore the holiday, at least with respect to buying gifts, decorating the house and sending out cards. After all, you can only buy so many sweaters for your relatives. Hopefully, the American economy can survive without our contribution.