Dear Mom, Dad & All:-

     It is a happy new year here and I hope it's the same with you back in the good old USA.  I've relayed the news which makes it so happy for me by cable, so you already know you almost have new daughter-in-law.  I gave Evelyn a diamond for Christmas.  It's a solitaire set in platinum and 18K gold and a beauty if I do say so myself.  Evelyn is delighted with it and we have the blessing of her Mom & Dad.  When we will be married is still problematical, since I must first obtain permission from my C.O. and then wait two months after it is granted before we can be married.  Not being Catholic she will have to take instructions and we will have to obtain a dispensation, I suppose, so it doesn't look as though we'll be rushing into it for a day or two.  She's a fine girl and she knows how to cook and sew and keep house from experience and I know you'll all like her as I do.
     As I wrote before, you know I was going down there for Christmas.  I caught the afternoon train and got there about 9:30, the train being an hour & a half late.  We had supper when I arrived and then all gathered around the fireplace to exchange news.  There were no Christmas trees this year, but they had the living room decorated with holly, ornaments and happy bells, which gave it a holiday air.  Mr. Humphrey had gotten a quart of whiskey and one of gin for the occasion and I had brought along three 12 oz. cans of pure California orange juice that I had gotten from the U.S. PX, so Mr. Humphrey and I had whiskey and the women had gin and orange.  After the midnight news I got my two packages from home out of my suitcase (the big black one) and some gifts I had gotten for them, mostly cigarettes and candy and started opening the gifts from home with all of them gathered around me and just as excited as I was about them.  They couldn't understand how I had kept from opening the boxes before, especially the one I had had for three weeks.  How you all ever managed to think of all those things I really can't imagine.  The shoe trees will be especially handy, since your shoes are always wet from the intermittent rains we get, and I've been cursing the collars on these kahki shirts for curling up, too.  Needless to say the underwear was welcome and is already in use.  One of my-CTC pals, Rex Goode from Texas, is coming over tomorrow, Sunday, afternoon for tea so we're going to have the fruit cake then.  The book made good reading on the train and as each chapter is complete in itself I think I'll save it for just that purpose.  I gave the Gillette blades to Mr. Humphrey, he was all out and couldn't get any.  He had one of those green glass hones and had been sharpening up some old ones.  He said by honing a blade he could use it for a week, so I told him the blades should take care of him until next Christmas.  I gave him a box of white Owl Cigars for Christmas.  I received a very nice light tan colored leather cigarette case from Evelyn for the standard length cigarettes, so, coupled with the one Pete gave me for the long ones.  I'm all set.  Mr. & Mrs. Humphrey gave me and Eveready Electric razor that works on 230 volt AC or DC, looks just like the better Remington one and is Ivory colored.  It was almost two thirty when we got to bed that night and we were up again at six-thirty Christmas morning so I could get to Mass at eight o'clock.  We had breakfast and Evelyn went to Mass with me.  I was rather disappointed since there was no music and wished we had gone to the Cathedral.  We went to the nearest church to her home, about a mile walk.  It was still dark and the moon was up high in the sky making a flashlight unnecessary.  After our return home we just loafed around the house taking it easy until two o'clock when we had a real English Christmas dinner.  Roast Chicken, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, celery, the real English plum pudding, fruit cake and tiny mince pies, port wine, and afterwards, tea in front of the fire constituted the meal and I certainly was stuffed to the neck by the time we had finished.  Evelyn and I cornered the davenport in front of the fireplace in the living room after dinner and with the warmth of the fire and a full stomach were both soon asleep.  Mrs. Humphrey and Evelyn's sister Dolly, did the dishes.  About five o'clock one of the neighbor women and her husband dropped in.  I had met them before and we had a drink to a merry Christmas, and had a short visit.  When they left about 5:30 we had the tea meal.  I managed to eat some cake and mince pie with the tea, but I was still full from dinner.  Mrs. Humphrey doesn't think I eat very much, she's just about like Mom on the portions.  During the evening we just sat around the fire again nibbling on chocolate and having a drink occasionally.  They had gin & orange, whiskey, wine, light ale and brown ale to offer, so we didn't go thirsty.  The two boys put on a boxing match, one of the boys Leslie, is 13 and the other Ray, is nine.  The latter said he had always had Evelyn to himself until I came along.  She had always taken him to the movies, etc. and bought him candy.  She's been working for the same firm for the past four years.  I don't think Ray spent over fifteen minutes of the day not eating something.  I had given each of the boys about five chocolate bars and a 1/2 lb. can of planter's peanuts (from the PX, we're allowed a can a week when they have them) and with what they had saved-up in the six weeks preceding Christmas they had all they wanted.  The British ration of candy is twelve ounces a month at present.  All in all it was just like being at home and I sure enjoyed myself.  Dolly had gone off in the afternoon with her boy friend to his home, (he and his folks evacuated from the Guernsey Islands) and they returned around eleven.  Then we had supper, about like our noon lunches at home.  I certainly couldn't complain about not getting enough to eat.
    We slept late Saturday morning, not getting up until almost eleven, except Mr. Humphrey who had to go to work at night.  We had our breakfast at noon and afterwards in the afternoon Evelyn and I went for a trolley bus ride over to the hospital where he works to meet him and give me a chance to see some more of London that was new to me.  It was cold and foggy out, so we were glad to get back to the fire when we returned with him about four o'clock.  Dinner was about the same as the Christmas dinner.  I think I must have gained about five pounds over the weekend.  In the evening Mr. & Mrs. Humphrey and Evelyn and I went down to his club (a Trades & Labor Club) where we had a glass of beer and met some of his cronies.  But it was rather quiet there and we thought we'd like things a little livelier so he suggested we go over to the 'Plough Inn', a neighborhood pub, which we did.  These pubs are different from our "Joints" in the states, are the center of community life in the evenings and this one was no exception.  A bloke was playing the accordian and all the residents of the neighborhood, young and old, seemed to be there.  Mothers and dads and their army, navy, or air force sons were all around enjoying themselves while they could.  Some were dancing, some quietly drinking ale and just looking on, others in larger groups around tables were singing the same old songs they sang in the last war.  It was certainly livelier than the club, and everyone was having a good time, from the oldest grandmother proudly watching and smiling at her grandson in a Commando uniform dancing with an ATS girl, to the old "Potman", the fellow about seventy who was gathering up the empty glasses and taking them back to the bar and wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas" as he went around, with an extra special one for the American "Leftenant".  "I fought in the last two wars," he told me, "but I was too old for this one."  Many an old soldier of the last or previous Wars wished me a Merry Christmas as we sat there enjoying it all, and there was always a proud "Sir" at the and of their greeting.  We walked back home about ten and in spite of my protests, had to have a bit of supper and tea, and once again Big Ben had tolled the witching hour before we retired.
     Sunday morning we had to be up early again, of course, for me, and after breakfast and church, Evelyn and I took a trolley bus to go down and see "Petticoat Lane".  This is in the Jewish section of London'a East End and on a Sunday all the jewish merchants block the streets with their stands and wares for sale.  If you took one of St. John's festivals and multiplied it a thousand or more times, put people of all nationalities behind the counters, and surrounded them with the population of St. Paul, it might be something like Petticoat Lane on a Sunday.  We got off the bus with about forty others and started down the street to the "lane".  People were hurrying from all directions to the same place.  When we got there I got the surprise of my life.  I thought there was just stores and the like, but the streets were jammed solid with people, and rough board counters on saw horses, like those at a carnival, filled the streets along each curb.  "Buy a nice dog for the Lady, sir?",  "Genuine pedigree".  "How about one of these beautiful parrots?" And there were puppies of every kind and description, bright red and green parrots, blue parrots, with white wings, love birds, canaries, rabbits of all kinds, chickens, pheasants, animal foods for any kind of a pet you could name, hay for the rabbits, jewelry, horoscopes, hindu (real ones) fortune tellers, novelties, tools of every kind from a tack hammer to a power driven lathe; leather goods, shoes, socks, underwear; all kinds of clothes from brassiers to high hats; rain coats, cloth coats, fur coats; any size, any style, and any price; radios, furniture, books, bicycles, and rubber boots; suit cases, slippers and sheets, the Golden Rule, Emporium, Montgomery Wards and Woolworths all dumped in the middle of the street, amid thousands of people pushing, pulling, and shoving their way through and above it all the voices of the barkers selling their wares.  I've never seen anything like it before and don't think I ever shall.  It couldn't happen anywhere else In the world.  And every Sunday it's the same.
     We met an old CTC pal of mine with his girl.  He was now dressed in an American Army uniform and wearing the three stripes of a technician.  He was as surprised to see me as I was to see him and we had time for the exchange of a few bits of news before they were swept away in the crowd.  After about an hour of drifting about on this human tide we struggled free and caught a trolley bus back home arriving once again just in time to eat another big dinner with roast chicken as the "Piece de Resistance."  We had our tea at the end of the meal in the living room before the fire in the grate and then I packed up my belongings in the suit case to bring home.  It was heavier coming back than it was going, I believe, since Mrs. Humphrey had packed up a little lunch for me to eat on the train and some Christmas (fruit) cake to take back to my pal Rex.  We left at three o'clock to catch the four o'clock train and with the crowds on the buses and the subway it was just about a minute past four when we arrived at the gate which had just closed, the brakeman had, or rather, was, just blowing his whistle.  I got the girl ticket taker to open the gate and saying goodbye to Evelyn I ran for all I was worth after the train.  The last four cars were so full you couldn't have got a midget in them but I did manage to squeeze in the fifth one as the train was moving out the corridor was jammed solid with people.  There were about 15 in every compartment which are meant to hold six, or at most eight, and I had to stand my suit case on end to get it in the corridor.  There must have been at least thirty cars on the train, every one jammed solid with people.  We came to a big town after about a two hour ride standing thus and about half the people got off.  An American Army Major got on and I tipped my suitcase down and we shared either end of it, glad to get a chance to sit.  After about another hour he got off and by then the corridors were about empty.  When we started again I opened up the suitcase and took out one of the packages and noticed there were several Evelyn had put in.  This one contained two large lettuce, cheese, and tomato sandwiches, so I closed the case, sat down on it again and ate them.  They filled me up so I didn't investigate the other packages until after I got home.  At last I reached my so called home town after getting a seat for the last half hour of the trip and found there were no taxies available, so I checked the suitcase at the station and walked home.  The housekeeper and her husband were waiting for me to have supper, which I did.  It was ten o'clock, and I want to bed right afterward.  I don't know how the other Americans fared over here, but for me it really was a Merry Christmas and no mistake.
     But it wasn't over yet.  About a week previous to Christmas the American Officers had each received an invitation to a Christmas Dinner and dance to be held Monday, December 28, at a girls' school (while the girls were home for the holidays) sponsored by the local town's Development Association so after work on Monday I dashed home, cleaned up and dressed in my Class A uniform started out to find the school.  It was as black as coal and drizzling a bit and I didn't know exactly where the school was.  I walked up to the Post Office to mail a letter to Evelyn to let her know I had got back okay, and not seeing a policeman anywhere, asked a man coming down the street if he could direct me to it.  My good luck seldom lets me down and he replied he was going right next door to it and would take me there, so off we went.  When we arrived he went on his way and I went in.  A uniformed maid took-my coat and hat and a gentlemen in evening dress took charge of me, seeing to it that I had a Vermouth cocktail before going in to dinner, for they were just starting to go in. I drank the very tasty concoction and entered the dining room . There were four rows of tables and one long table across the head of the rows, behind which were draped with the British and American flags.  The room was decorated in red and white and at each place was a large menu and program card standing vertically, the napkins were rolled and also standing vertically and there were place cards with our names on them.  The seating was arranged so that there were alternate Americans and Englishmen, the latter in evening dress.  We seated ourselves and the waitresses served the oyster soup and prior to this filled our wine glasses with some very fine 1934 Burgundy wine.  As soon as your glass was empty it was refilled.  The soup was delicious too.  Following this came the main course, consisting of roast turkey and cranberry sauce (and boy what a portion!), mashed potatoes, green peas, cauliflower, rolls & butter then the third course of plum pudding with brandy sauce and mince pies, then cheese and biscuits (round soda crackers to you), then a large and very sweet apple (served with a knife to peel it with) and finally the coffee and more wine for the toasts.  The first of these, to the king, was given by the chairman, as was the second, to the President of the United States.  Each of these toasts was followed by the singing of the National Anthems of England and the U.S. respectively.  Then a doctor, the C.O, of the home guard here and a holder of the Distinguished Service Order from the last war offered a toast, and a very nice speech with it, to "Our American Guests".  Our Captain replied and in turn offered a toast to the British Hosts.  All the formalities having been concluded we adjourned to the ballroom where an orchestra was waiting as well as the ladies.  The wives, daughters and friends of the members of the Association as well as officers of the women's services had been invited.  After the first dance number had concluded everyone had to fall in for a sort of comic grand march and paper hats were given out to one and all.  This broke down the reserve and one and all joined in for a good time.  At one end of the hall they served orange and lemonade (ersatz), and there were plates and plates of fancy cakes and sandwiches of all kinds.  The party broke up at midnight with "God Save the King", and "Auld Lang Syne," in which everyone locked arms and sang while swaying back and forth.  I was sure ready for bed when I got home.
     The rest of the week was uneventful until Thursday night which was New Years Eve.  New Years is just another day over here, but new years eve Rex and Cy Creveling, another U.S. Lt. who works with me, decided to go out and have a few beers.  There was a party on at the RAF mess, but we decided to skip that, so we met at one of the hotel bars and ended up at another, just chewing the rag and drinking beer.  They all close at ten so we came back to my room to have something to eat.  The housekeeper had made a pot of coffee for me and it was just ready when we came in.  We gathered about my little gas fireplace, which was lit of course, and drank the coffee and ate that "little lunch" that Mrs. Humphrey had given me, as well as indulging in some of the chocolates Irene sent me.  That "little lunch' consisted of a huge drumstick and thigh of chicken, six of the small mince pies (about the size of a cupcake, they are), three pieces of christmas fruit cake (containing very little fruit this year, incidentally), some jam tarts, and a couple pieces of sponge cake (in two layers with marshmallow cream between).  It was just like raiding the ice box and Rex and Cy stared open mouthed at the chicken, and between the two of them they left just the bones.  We were talking and eating chocolates and arguing about this, that, and the other thing and pretty soon the clock in the hall downstairs struck 12.  Then followed an argument about whether it, Cy's watch, Rex's watch or my Little Ben was right as they were all different.  It ended by all of us agreeing it was a Happy New Year and them leaving to stumble their way home in the black out at 12:15, by my Little Ben.
     And thus ended the Holiday season.  If anyone had a better time than I did they sure had to go some.
     Well I've been writing for hours on this Saturday afternoon and evening and feel the need of a bit of refreshment, so I'm going to drop in at the nearest pub (at a hotel 50 yards away) and get a beer or maybe a whiskey if there's any available.  It's a quarter to eight and I've been at it since four, except for a little time out for tea at five.
I suppose you'll want Evelyn's address so here it is:-

Miss Evelyn Humphrey
64 Flexmere Road
Tottenham
London N 17
England

     She's having her picture taken to send you so you can meet her as she had already met all of you, by photograph.  I've been waiting patiently (?) now for three weeks to get my pictures from the photographer, but they're still not ready today.
     So for the present, Cherrio from England.  I don't believe George is on this side of the Atlantic, more likely he's with Jim.

Love to all

Thatch