Christmas day brought more festivities. A tree was set up in the mess hall and decorated in the approved manner with candles and tinsel, the hall itself being transformed into a bower of green and red through the efforts of the committee appointed to care for the arrangements. Turkey was again issued and the supplies augmented by purchases at the commissary in Neufchateau. Christmas packages from home which had been arriving for some time were distributed by Captain Wolf and every member of the Company was presented with a gift bought from the Company fund. The Company in turn presented its commander with a fur coat to aid him in withstanding the rigors of a winter which was at no time gentle. The day was enjoyed to the utmost. Buglers were silenced so that the unusual pleasure of lying luxuriously in bunks could be enjoyed for the first time. Much of the day was spent in revelling in the contents of the boxes received from home. No Christmas stocking of childhood ever held half the fascination of those little packages. Everything brought back cherished memories and the enjoyment was doubled by the fact that no duties disturbed the calm of reflections. Following the dinner that night the mess hall was cleared and a stage set up over the serving tables in the kitchen, complete with an artistic backdrop decorated in conventional style by Guerrant, a curtain which would open in the center after sufficient coaxing, and footlights patiently manufactured by Saddler Thompson from tobacco cans and candles. After Lieutenant Bacharach's orchestra had played an "overture" and the Company filled mess hall seats, the double quartette occupied the stage and gave a few well-received selections. "Rubber" Callahan furnished the next feature, winning applause by his nimble dancing. Then, with a setting almost theatrical, McCarthy as cub reporter was ordered by Malone, as city editor, to read certain excerpts from the third and final edition of the _Morning Scratch_. News was plenty for this edition and scandal was related with a true flavor, outdoing previous attempts by so much that serious consequences threatened for a time after the edition appeared in public.