Mayo, Y.T.

November 17, 1932

Dearest Mamma,

I know this is awfully early to be writing your Christmas letter, but I am all alone, and you know how things pile up, as the season draws near, so I think I shall just sit down and write to you now, while everything is quiet and there is plenty of time.

lme ..

~

I have just been reading some of your old letters again, and they make me wish so much that you were here. You have Mark with you, tho, so I guess you are quite satisfied to be where you are,

I still make so terribly many mistakes on the type-writer that I guess I should give it up as a bad job, but it is so much quicker that I just am spoiled for writing by hand. Just pretend that I skipped a line at the beginning of this paragraph.

We didn't send our usual Christmas order this year, and I have not had the courage to look about town for things, as I know there won't be any selection at all, and the prices are fierce, but I dare say we shall have a nice time when the holiday season arrives, at any rate, for one always does. I know I was looking inquisitively at a very interesting parcel from you this afternoon," and I nearly opened it, but not quite . The mere anticipation gave me a great deal of pleasure, so you may be sure that you will be contributing a very great deal to our happiness, when Christmas day arrives.

Claude has been away for over a week, now, and it certainly does seem all wrong without him. He is up at Keno, and I heard the rumor today, that we are to be transferred up there, for the rest of the winter! It is a very absurd rumor, however, and I am not a bit alarmed at the possibility of its being true, but it just shows how really uncertain our position is. It wouldn't be a bit impossible for us to be sent there, tho it is scarcely probable at this time of year.

It is now Nov.22, and Claude is still away, so you can imagine how lonesome I am beginning to feel. It is over two weeks, now, and I do not expect him for several more days. I understand that there is some case up at Keno, which requires an Inspecter [sic], and so Claude has to wait until one can arrive from Dawson . We expected him on the last stage, and were much disappointed when he didn't show up. The next stage is due tomorrow, and I certainly hope we shall not be disappointed again. Of course, I do not find it nearly so hard being alone here, as I did at Ross, for we can send notes back and forth every day, and Thomas took me up to visit him last Friday. Thomas is the other policeman here, and he has been very helpful. He stokes up the furnace every night, and does any odd job I ask him to.

You may think this time alone has given me a good chance to catch up with some of the work I always say I never have time to do, but it seems to work just the opposite way. It has been so very cold that it is all I can do to see that things don't freeze, and then, too, folks know I am alone, so they are always calling or inviting me out, and so I haven't really accomplished anything worth while.

I was so much disappointed [sic] when the paper for my Christmas card folders didn't arrive on the last mail, for now I fear I won't have time to wait for it, and I don't quite know what to do about it.

1 tried doing some home-made ones, but they are very disappointing, and do not nearly justify the time spent on them. I'll enclose a sample, but I know you'll be disappointed with it. Poor Claude worked so hard with the card itself, that I just feel as tho I can't use such a poor excuse of a folder, as it actually detracts from the picture, and looks more like the valentines we used to make in school, than anything else. Its sent with all our love, tho, Mother darling.

Mayo is quite a busy little world of its own, and the time is slipping around very fast, indeed. If I really do come home next June or July, which I still plan on doing, I'm sure I don't know how I'm going to get over leaving Claude, for the more I think of it, the more impossible it seems. It is a pity that we cannot spend all the time together this winter, at any rate, and I begrudge every minute of this past two weeks. We still have not heard from England and I am beginning to fear that something is wrong. Its so unusual for them not to write for such a long time, under ordinary circumstances.

I received a very sweet and encouraging letter from Honey, on the last mail, and she said it takes longer for a letter to get to us, here, than it does to reach Lancaster, from Ft. Yukon, so you see, you really are just as near to her as we are, even tho we are both in the North.

She certainly does appreciate the home mail, and says you all are wonderful to her. I miss her so much. It seems as tho I think about her more than ever, now that Christmas is nearly here. Indeed I think of you and Bud and Anna, too, and wonder how you will spend Christmas, and what each one of you are doing. I hav[e]n't done any- thing worth speaking of, so far as the holidays are concerned, and to be honest, I almost dread them, this year. I feel short-handed in so many things, and in so many ways, that I can't quite see how to plan anything, satisfactorily,- even to myself.

Well, Mamma dear, we both send you our dearest love, at any rate, and only wish we could be with you, and help in a more practical way, to contribute to your Christmas happiness. I wish I could have my plate of oranges and clear toys, and cocoanut [sic] candy, and grapes, and nuts, too!

We hope you are well, and that you will not only enjoy Christmas, but that you will have a very happy New Year, too. Please give my love to Anna and Mark, too, and of course all my good wishes are for them, as well as for your own dear self.

Always, Your loving Mary