Home for the Holidays
Shortly after arriving in Boston, Dad was able to secure a short pass and made it home to be with family for Christmas. Dad divided his limited time between his family and his girl "Blondie" before heading back to Boston, MA. While home Dad had the following pictures taken with his sister Mae and "his favorite niece" Lynda. Dad waited impatiently to receive copies of these family photos after he went overseas.
 

Pictured above is his mother Anna and youngest brother Eddie. Immediately after arriving back in Boston on December 28th, Dad wrote a letter to his sister Mae. Although he was tired and said that "me and my bed are to be buddies again", he wanted to express how happy he was to make it back home to see his family. He went on to say:

While I was home, I thought of how everyone seemed to go out of their way...to see that my stay at home was pleasant...It was also a sacrifice for Milton [Mae's husband] to travel around like he did...with gasoline being so hard to get...

Dad also was interested in what Mae thought of "Blondie", the girl he met while on leave from Newport, RI and who he also introduced to his family during his short stay home. He asked Mae the following:

...Mae, frankly and no lying now, don't you think Blondie's nice? Man, I do! She's the only girl that even got me to think of settling down. So she must be nice...Hoped you liked her. She's one of the most decent girls I've ever gone with...

Before closing his letter Dad also mentioned that his "Crew" [LCI (L) 229] gathered around him while he was writing the letter. The crew thought that he was writing to his girl and started singing "I've got it bad and that ain't good" and "We'll miss you". Dad jokingly wrote "What a crew of swab jockeys".