Sunday 23rd January 1916: Captain Wagstaff of the 1st
Bedfordshire Regiment, who is a prisoner in Germany, has written to his
relatives in Leighton Buzzard: “Our Christmas here was so different to last
year, when we had no parcels and precious little of anything else. A friend
sent me two little Christmas trees and we had them on Christmas Eve for all the
British; there were toys for them, tops and whistles, and we had such fun. We
began with hot punch as we were allowed special “wine” for the day and that was
the best way to drink it. Then the tree was all lit up with candles, and then we
made a snapdragon with raisins, and we finished with bobbing for apples in a
tub of water, Colonel and everyone. It helped us so much. Then we sat round the
tree and talked about you all and wondered what you were doing. We had our big
meal on Christmas evening, a selection of all the best things anyone had in
their parcels; we secured a white tablecloth and some serviettes for the
occasion and the centre was occupied by a large jam pot (concealed), full of
artificial carnations on a table centre. It took four people an hour before we
found out how to fold the serviettes. It was too amusing to see them at it. The
table really looked human again, until the crash came, when the old cutlery
came out, black handled three-pronged forks and knives to match, a large and
small lead spoon each and a soup plate and one other. But we overlooked that
and I can’t thank you enough for the good things we had. We managed to get a
ten pound turkey through the canteen, cooked in the kitchen by the “chef” of
the biggest hotel in Bordeaux: the chestnut stuffing we made ourselves in the
room from a recipe in Pears’ Encyclopaedia, rather changed, the rest of the
meal was all from parcels. Each of us had a menu with our regimental colours on
it. I don’t know how we should have got through the day without this to think
of and arrange”.
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