We were living in Whittier at the time that this was taken. We were not too far from the Whittier Quad, a modern shopping center a few blocks away on Painter Avenue. We seem to be sharing an inside joke with Santa. "Yeah, we know how this works." Probably this was 1956 or 1957. I remember that light jacket very much and loved wearing it, though it appears to be getting a tad small on me in this shot. On a disappointing note, it was not long after this Christmas, perhaps the following year, when dad and mom's marriage was beginning to unravel.".
Ann tells the story of the Christmas, probably 1958 but certainly by 1959, that dad asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she told him a Betsy Wetsy doll (a doll that, once you gave it water from a bottle, peed its diaper for her to change--getting girls into their stereotypical feminine and motherly roles right away). Dad immediately proceeded to buy it for her at the store even as she begged, "I want Santa to bring it." He ignored her pleas. We would be the first kids on the block to have our parents separate and then divorce, so it was traumatic for us as well as for dad. However, we all had many good memories before it started to turn bad.
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