December 1944~

I want only one thing for Christmas: for this darned war to stop!!

We have been at war ever since 1941, when Japan declared war on us that horrible December 7th day, after they dropped their bombs on Pearl Harbor and killed a bunch of our sailors over there in Hawai'i.  Ever since, I have been terrified of the thought of more bombs, more planes, coming to America.

Every day finds our family huddled around the radio, and whereas I don't want to know what's going on, we have to know.  We're in a war; it's important to catch the latest information.  

It is December now.  We have our Christmas tree decorated, and we have presents, but it's hard to feel the joy when we have to shut our lights out or pull the air-raid drapes over the windows, so the enemy doesn't see us.  Worse is when the air raid sirens go off because you don't know if bombs or planes are going to come next.  And it's not safe to go anywhere, and we have to deal wih rationing our food (and just about everything else).

I even get scared of talking on the phone with my friends 'cause you don't know who's out there, spying on us.  We have to be so careful with what we say or do, for fear of being found out.  

My little brothers don't understand the sheer horrors of the war.  Japanese people are in special camps because the non-Japanese people think they are the enemy (maybe that is where my best friend, Maruko, went off to; I haven't seen her or her family in over  a year now), and people talk about the atrocities in Germany, where thousands of Jewish people were rounded up by Nazis, and were, ultimately, killed.  I don't know if that's true or not, but whatever the case, it's still awful to even think about.

I have Jewish friends here.  I wonder if the Nazis would find them and put them to death.  I don't even want to think about it, but it's always there, in the back of my mind.

I wonder if that is the reason the Rosenowski family came here to America from Poland.  They wanted to get away before getting caught by the Nazis.  If I were in that position, I'd be doing everything I possibly could to get to America.

In the meantime, I and my brothers dream about what we might get from Santa on Christmas morning.  I want a new bike, perhaps some new dresses, socks, or shoes; my brothers, meanwhile, want toys, toys, and even more toys (as if they don't already have enough!).  But my dearest wish is for this terrible war to end; so many millions of people have alreaady died (mostly in Europe, but then you got the ones who died here three years ago on the attack on Pearl Harbor).  War is hell for the victims, but then it's hell on everybody: nobody is left out, and everybody suffers in the end.

If the war could stop in time for Chirstmas, that would be the best Christmas present I could ever hope for!  I hate being in a war!!!!