November 26, 1944: Anna writes a letter to her brothers from Albany. She and Eddie have settled into their new home now that they have the downstairs flat on Orange Street to themselves. Anna reflects that she thought she “would be scared to have a house of our own but it is all so natural and simple…” They are getting used to eating meals on their own. Thanksgiving Day has come and gone and Christmas is on its way. Everyone is “in the middle of…pre-Christmas house cleaning.” It is the last day of deer season so “Eddie is out with his pals hunting.”
Anna provides an update on what Thanksgiving was like at the Murawski house. They managed to get a fresh tom turkey “with a lot of meat on him and mama roasted him for us and we had a good time eating him. Mama kept on telling us how she wished you boys were here to help eat it. …The whole meal was very good and mama was so proud and pleased with it…” The turkey was “stuffed like Eddie’s mother with the usual homemade cranberries and mashed potatoes and them we had pie.”
Little Terry is getting into the routine of living in a flat separate, albeit just downstairs, from her grandparents. As Anna tells it, “Terry…likes our house a lot and she doesn’t care to be left upstairs with mama and dadd…I don’t know whether she loves us or not but she will come to us and say ‘Let me kiss um’ I or Eddie lean over and she puts her little hands around your neck and plasters a little wet slimy kiss on your face until your heart does a somersault. I try to be as good to her as I possibly can and I think I have improved …the baby seems more composed and quiet.”
Aside from little Terry, there is another young girl in the house and it seems that Anna has a hard time keeping herself from playing matchmaker. She addresses a section of the letter to Dad. “Anthony, remember a long time ago you told mama that when you got ready to get married you would bring your fiancé home and leave her home with mama for a whole year to find out whether she would make a good wife. Well the time has come and we have a nice little girl living upstairs with mama and daddy and she has our room. She is eighteen years old and has blue eyes and blonde hair which seems to be lighter than mine. She comes from Old Chatham from a farm. She works in the Bayer Company in Rennselaer as a stenographer. …she and I have a lot in common and we all like her. …I told mama that now we could keep her a whole year and find out how good she is like Anthony wanted but I am just kidding. …she is just like one of the family and even baby Terry likes her.”
On a more sober point, Anna tells that, “The Honor Roll for all the servicemen in our Parish finally is finished and last Sunday it was dedicated at solemn Vespers in our church. It is in the church with an American and Polish flag on each side and your boys names are on it.”
As far as news about other friends:
- Joe Miller was in town over the weekend with plans to be back for a whole week during an upcoming furlough.
- “Eddie Falkowski already is in combat and he shot down one Jap plane in flames and he himself has already been shot at and one time he just made it to base in time.”
Anna closes with “Well, I guess I have written you all the news so I will close for now till another time.”