Today is Christmas! How do I know? Well, I don’t know for certain, but I am hoping it’s Christmas because that stuff I got from home for the holiday season has wasted away to a shadow. Another week and I would have had what the little dog shot at! As it is, I’ve been on a ration of one raisin a day since December 17th It was certainly good stuff while it lasted.
This state of affairs may be hard for Mom and Dad to understand. They sent me so many things to eat. One trouble was that every time I lifted the lid of my foot locker, there they were. Tempting, no? Put a can of 3-in-1 oil and a roll of adhesive tape where Cleon will run into them several times a day and see how long they last!!
All of us boys from the Northwest, the Midwest, and the Northeast have been “dreaming of a White Christmas”, but that is all the good it has done us. This year my Christmas is decidedly green. Many of the trees still have their leaves or needles and one need only look at the beautiful carpet of grass to appreciate the extensive “precipitation” we have been having of late.
According to the Stars and Stripes, at least a few soldiers in the ETO were “dreaming of a Tight Christmas”. Could be!!
I’m not one to rub it in, but I’ve been wondering if I had a better Christmas dinner than Mom and Dad did. If I remember their dinners correctly, that would be going some. I’ll tell you just what I had this noon. It didn’t cost me a single penny or point either.
The main course was, of course, turkey. And what turkey. No bones, no necks, no waste of any kind. Just great big slabs of white meat. And more than one could eat. With the turkey there was dressing (the only thing I didn’t like) and cranberry sauce.
Besides that, there were mashed potatoes and gravy, peas, pickles, bread, hot rolls, butter, and some cake which was just like mother used to make. We even got some G.I. Christmas candy.
I thought it was a much better meal than the one we had Thanksgiving. You may wonder if we stuffed ourselves. If Hitler had launched an attack today at one o’clock, he would have caught us with our pants down. I know I couldn’t have put up much of a fight.
For supper we had baloney and beans.
In many ways it has been just another day for me. I lounged around in bed until 7:45 but still made it to work by the usual 8:30. I am always busy on Saturday morning, and this morning was no exception. This afternoon I was just there.
I’ve got the Christmas spirit, though. I took one bag of the hard candy that Mom and Dad sent to me and gave it to the Irish janitor who works down at our offices. I wished him a Merry Christmas, and he seemed very pleased. It has given me a good feeling all day.
This evening I went to the show here on the base. “Hello, Frisco, Hello” was showing, and I enjoyed it more than when I first saw it in Kearns some eight months ago.
Of course it is several hours earlier in the States. Mom and Dad may very well be eating their dinner this very minute. And thinking of me as I am thinking of them.
[letterstohome copyright 2008]