Christmas Time
Chirstmas Eve one of the girls had 20 kids in for a lovely party. She had gone to a lot of trouble. We exchanged draw-name gifts and she had one for each of us, and also stockings. She had a lovely goose and plum pudding dinner and we even heard Lionel Barrymore read the Christmas Carol. Then at midnight I went to midnight mass at the Episcopal church with Alan, Mannie, and another girl.
Five of my special friends had brought all their gifts from home to my place and they were packed under the tree. So Christmas morning an hour before the other guests arrived we gathered there and opened our presents. I had a nice fire going and it was real Christmas morning-ish. I thought my things from home were wonderful. I especially appreciated the bridge cards and note cards, etc. That was a terrific selection and something I certainly will get a lot of fun and use out of. Also the socks are coming in mighty handy. I may even have to you ask you to hide a pair or two in your letters a little later. I only have two pair left. We don’t wear stockings at all in the summer but now that it’s cold I wear them at night when I go out. Still don’t have to wear them to work, thank gosh.
Gee it was good to have some real American candy. My guests devoured a box that morning and the other row have long since gone. I haven’t used the cherries yet. The Hatfields sent me a nylon slip. I was pretty well stocked up on slips and nylon never wears out, even with the hard dobhi wear, but it was very pretty and I’ll certainly use it. I also got some nice scarves and jewelry from my friends, the prize of which was Alan’s gift to me. He got one of the huge slave bracelets from Orissa, silver. It’s about four inches wide. Creates a mild sensation when I wear it. I’m crazy about it.
Our breakfast lasted until about 2:00 and from there I went with Alan and Mannie to visit different Embassy people around town and we finally ended up about six for dinner at another Taj girl’s place and after dinner to a show, “Where’s Charley.”
The next evening Mannie had about 40 people in to a big dinner party in the Taj lounge. It was in honor of two of the kids who got married on the 29th. On Saturday I went over and watched the Marine guards play football with the TCA team and had dinner and went to another show “Son of Paleface” with one of the Marines who I have been dating quite a bit lately.-Ken Parrish.
Next day was the wedding. Everyone was working on it. We made the bridal and bridesmaid bouquets. The wedding was in the Catholic Church and the reception at the Gymkhana Club. It was a real pukah (especially nice) wedding with all the trimmings. The two boys and I had dinner afterwards in another girl’s room. Alan left the next morning at 7:00 via plane. Mannie and I got up and saw him off. After work that day I went to Old Delhi with the new boy who I call Schmo (Frank Schmeltzer) and a kid who is travelling around the world in a rather leisurely fashion. We visited the old copper shops and bargained with the shopkeepers by candle light. David bought a lovely old samovar and we didn’t discover until the next day that it was soldered so it’s a stand. The boys bought some turned-up-toes shoes and we went through the Ivory mart and tried to get into the Jumma Mosjid (a mohammedin mosque). (This is the mosque she is photographed outside of on the home page of this blog.)
