Christmas in the CCC: Parties

The holidays were celebrated in camp with parties and special meals. Here's an excerpt from the Patagonia, AZ, camp newspaper for Dec. 1939:

LAST CHRISTMAS IN THE CCC

          We got up about six o’clock and then ate breakfast in the Mess Hall, which was decorated with Christmas Holly and colored paper. After breakfast, we played some new games that were given to the company as a Christmas present. We had a tree and had a lot of fun decorating it.

          Then, at one o’clock we ate a dinner that was fit for a King. Boy! Did we have a fine meal, all we wanted to eat. Besides our own company there were a number of guests from Benson and Tucson, who brought some candy and other presents for the boys.

          One boy dressed up as Santa Claus and passed out all kinds of presents. These gifts consisted of anything he could get for nothing around camp. One boy got a Coca Cola bottle, one an old shoe, and another got a box of small frogs.

[enrollee Clarence Richey]