The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition > My Day
My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt

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WASHINGTON, Tuesday—A paper company has written an editorial which they doubtless sent to many people. It was inspired by a little item in a magazine, headed "Memo To Santa," which stated that the first Christmas wish of the members of our fighting forces was "cheerful" letters from home.

In the editorial sent me, we are reminded that not only the men, but the Army and Navy nurses and the other women in the military services and the Red Cross workers will want to hear from home. But the heart of the editorial is its careful analysis of the kind of letters which should go out from here. Every boy should be made to feel that on this Christmas Day there will be no home where his presence is not longed for, and that the thought of him will be part of every activity which takes place at this season.

I think the letters should also carry the message that an effort will be made in our home to do the things this Christmas which are symbolic of what the boys are fighting for. If we can shed a little more happiness around us, if we can draw some lonely people into a home circle for the day, the boys will know that the spirit which they are fighting to preserve still exists in our country.

Someone has suggested to me that if in some way there could be a public celebration, carried by short wave to all our various fighting men in which every family took part, it would mean a great deal to lonely boys in faraway places. There is a difficulty because of differences in time and the great distances involved, but perhaps something can be worked out. If it is worked out, I hope that every family will join in the spirit of the idea, for it will draw us closer together. Every boy who can possibly be within sound of the radio, will feel he is joining with those at home in this part of the Christmas celebration.

In any case, our letters should tell of happy things, of hope for the future, of our newly developed ingenuity in meeting war situations and, above all, of our willingness to do all we possibly can, if by so doing the war can be shortened by one day and the return of our boys to those they love can come about a little sooner.

We had to begin thinking of Christmas so early this year that I have actually done a good part of my Christmas shopping. There are a few things still coming up which I keep forgetting, but I hope by the middle of November to have fully covered even the many arrangements for the White House!

I reached Washington yesterday afternoon and found my husband very much better. I was greeted by Fala with great enthusiasm. He resumed his habit this morning of visiting me first at breakfast. After he begs all he can from me, he then goes to the President when his breakfast tray is brought and acts as though he had had nothing to eat.

E.R.

(COPYRIGHT, 1943, BY UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC.)


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About this document

My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, October 27, 1943

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
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Digital edition created by The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project The George Washington University 312 Academic Building 2100 Foxhall Road, NW Washington, DC 20007

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Digital edition published 2008, 2017 by
The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project

Available under licence from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

Published with permission from the Estate of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt.

MEP edition publlished on June 30, 2008.

TEI-P5 edition published on April 28, 2017.

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Transcription created from a photocopy of a UFS wire copy of a My Day column instance archived at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.
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