December 30, 1942

Many thanks for the deluge of airmail letters that almost swamped me this Xmas. I sent a Xmas wire and hope it reached you safely and in time. Your Xmas cake and shoes arrived in fine condition and just in time too. The shoes took exactly fifty-five days to make the trip and I had almost given them up. The cake was lovely, being just as moist as the day it was shipped. -----We had a fine turkey with all the trimmings with the exception of bread sauce but not to be compared with the good old carrot pudding I used to stuff my skin with in the days gone by.------

I noticed in today’s papers some brass hat made the statement that England was in greater danger of invasion now than at any time since 1940. If this is the case, it seems quite obvious that our job is to remain here and wait for an indefinite period. I dread the thought of another year of inactivity and am getting so restless that I don’t think I can stand it much longer, unless I find an outlet for my pent-up emotions. ------Oh well, if others can stand it so can I. It makes me mad though to see some of these punks carrying stripes and authority when I know darn well they will blow up when the first round is fired. Please tell Alan not to feel too badly because he is not in the armed forces, but rather to feel proud that he is doing a job and not just sitting around and doing nothing.