Dear Friends,

As usual we find ourselves in the month of December with many more things left to do than can be done in the short time remaining before Christmas. We would like to have written a letter with each Christmas card but then we probably wouldn't have finished before Christmas. So we will try to do the next best thing and write one letter for everybody.

This is our third straight Christmas together in the same house, which is a record for us. Chuck is still working for Univac, which doesn't move people around quite as frequently as the Navy does. The only travelling he has done in the past two years was a one-week trip to Pittsburgh in October to help out with a new Univac installation at the Gulf Oil Research Center there.

Jeanette has been getting back to her old teaching career in a small way, working as a volunteer teacher's assistant to help third graders improve their reading ability. She also helps operate the school's library.

The Carey family's biggest happening of 1970, though, has been our venture into the restaurant business. In July we opened a franchised Mexican restaurant, Tippy's Taco House, in Lakeside. It has really kept us busy in our "spare time"; even David and Paul have helped out by distributing menus door-to-door to help publicize Tippy's. We have had the usual difficulties of any new business but, with the help of some very conscientious employees, we seem to be on our way to success at last.

David is almost nine and has joined the Cub Scouts this year. He and Paul, who is seven now, are still active with Chuck in the Indian Guides. They just took an all-day hike through Torrey Pines State Park and are looking forward to a weekend outing in the mountains next month. Both boys are doing well at school and Paul is displaying great creativity as an artist and storyteller.

Alice started to kindergarten this fall, something she had been looking forward to ever since the boys started to school. She enjoys school and is already looking forward to reading and arithmetic.

We hope that this Christmas season will be a joyous one for you and that we might see you again during the coming year.