On December 6 the first letters from home were received, and four days later information was eagerly sought concerning the French monetary system, for Lieutenant Nelson, as Battalion Paymaster, gave out the pay due the Company in francs. For a few days the shops of Neufchateau were deluged with chocolate and souvenir seekers. Meager stores of French were overhauled in the attempt to express needs to the merchants and the services of French-speaking members of the outfit were rewarded with liberal amounts of wine and all the eatables procurable.
Lieutenant Chester C. Thomas was assigned to the Company from C Company of the Battalion. His original organization was the Vermont regiment of which Lieutenant Nelson and various enlisted men in the Company had been members. His addition brought the number of officers in the Company to seven, one in excess of the requirements of the tables of organization and was the preparation for the removal of Captain Wolf, which took place during the following month.
Christmas day brought more festivities. A tree was set up in the mess hall and decorated in the approved manner with candles and tinsel, the hall itself being transformed into a bower of green and red through the efforts of the committee appointed to care for the arrangements. Turkey was again issued and the supplies augmented by purchases at the commissary in Neufchateau. Christmas packages from home which had been arriving for some time were distributed by Captain Wolf and every member of the Company was presented with a gift bought from the Company fund. The Company in turn presented its commander with a fur coat to aid him in withstanding the rigors of a winter which was at no time gentle.
The day was enjoyed to the utmost. Buglers were silenced so that the unusual pleasure of lying luxuriously in bunks could be enjoyed for the first time. Much of the day was spent in revelling in the contents of the boxes received from home. No Christmas stocking of childhood ever held half the fascination of those little packages. Everything brought back cherished memories and the enjoyment was doubled by the fact that no duties disturbed the calm of reflections. Following the dinner that night the mess hall was cleared and a stage set up over the serving tables in the kitchen, complete with an artistic backdrop decorated in conventional style by Guerrant, a curtain which would open in the center after sufficient coaxing, and footlights patiently manufactured by Saddler Thompson from tobacco cans and candles.
After Lieutenant Bacharach's orchestra had played an "overture" and the Company filled mess hall seats, the double quartette occupied the stage and gave a few well-received selections. "Rubber" Callahan furnished the next feature, winning applause by his nimble dancing. Then, with a setting almost theatrical, McCarthy as cub reporter was ordered by Malone, as city editor, to read certain excerpts from the third and final edition of the Morning Scratch. News was plenty for this edition and scandal was related with a true flavor, outdoing previous attempts by so much that serious consequences threatened for a time after the edition appeared in public.
After the quartette had again offered its best to the audience, Poirier, Foster and Hunihan presented a melodramatic sketch in which Poirier played the part of the villain, Foster that of the trusting wife and Hunihan that of the honest young workingman who was tempted but thought better of it and sold the old pistol to buy chocolate for the baby, putting an end to a situation which threatened to become painful. Eddie O'Neill entertained with his best steps and then Hobart and Cath appeared on the stage, the former in the garb of a Scotchman (or so it was said to be) and the latter in a combination of attire which surpasses any power of description because of its varied character. After a brief and wholly unnecessary bit of persiflage these ambitious entertainers broke forth in song which would have been passed on mercifully by those present had not Hobart essayed an encore which was more than the audience could stand and they exhibited their disapproval by showering the stage with all movable objects.
Eddie Malone added to the interest of the day by vanquishing three visitors from a neighboring camp in such a manner that they promised revenge, and began a return with augmented forces, but abandoned their enterprise before they reached the camp and returned to their own barracks.
No turkey was repeated for New Year's Day, but a pig was purchased from a nearby farmer and proved a welcome addition to the rations.
British and French gas masks issued the day before Christmas were used constantly in drills. Two long, tiresome days were spent in the drillgrounds of the infantry, where trenches were simulated by paths through the snow and where the inactivity produced severe trouble with frostbitten feet, forcing Ralph Moore to go to the hospital for a considerable stay.