December 24, 1943

Dearest,
So it’s Christmas Eve. So they say. It really looks so in the mess hall. The decorations turned out to be quite OK. They got 3 or 4 very respectable trees + decorated them with paper paper streamers + stars in various colors + wisps of absorbent cotton + strung festoons of paper across the ceiling. It really looks OK. It’s quite wonderful what these nurses can do along those lines when they want to. The col. says he expects some patients in today, but nobody in going to get excited until we actually see them here. The col. has been telling us everyday that they would appear - & they haven’t yet. The old jackass. They began the OD roster yesterday + Barner ? drew the first surgical OD. I am alternate tonight + OD tomorrow night- which probably means only that I can’t go out. The 3 of us who were free last night returned to the pub + had a little more ale. We were soon joined by the col. + the maj, + the former entertained us with inanities most of the evening. Col. Lyter is a fine CO, whatever I used to think. Rumor hath it that there is some kind of a party tonight- there’s a beautiful cake on display in the mess hall- but nobody seems to know anything. So I’ll try to celebrate without you. But it won’t be much fun.

Love B