354 11/25/1938 Stella Benson to Helen Carlson

Stella Benson 1204 Lafromboise St., Enumclaw, Washington Friday, November 25, 1938

Helen Erwin 5201 28th Ave South, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Dear Helen, I’m sorry that I’m so terrible at writing to you but it doesn’t mean that I don’t think of you a lot. First of all I want to thank you for the dresses you sent me. That blue one fits just perfectly and everyone tells me how nice it looks on me. How did you like your Christmas cards? It was certainly nice of you to buy them from me. Harold is playing with the baby and he gave her a black jelly-bean and she smeared it all over her face. Gee, she’s certainly gotten big. When she has her bath she splashes water all over everything. She squeals and laughs out loud at everything. She breaks every rattle she gets a hold of. Harold, Jimmy and some of the kids are going to go skiing tomorrow. I was going to go too but I came down sick today. I had some negatives developed that Harold and I took of Gladys and Cully after they came out of the church after they were married. I was wondering if you would have them enlarged for me. I’d like the picture to be about 8 X 10. They’re rather off-side but I thought Gladys would like to have them. If they come out quite nice I’ll send them to her for Christmas. If you’ll tell me how much it comes to I’ll send you the money. I hope you can read this all right. I’m sitting in the big chair trying to write but I think I have almost forgotten how. I’m sitting here listening to Professor Quiz. It’s fun to see if I can answer any of them. Thanksgiving Day Pat and Lois and Harold and I went to the game and then we went to Lois and Pat’s. They are living in a house now. Afterwards we all went to the mission and had a turkey dinner. Phyllis Buck took care of the baby. Altogether it cost us quite a bit but we had lots of fun. I’m glad that Eden’s baby is cute. I bet she’s getting bigger all the time too. Do they both seem to think a lot of her? My baby sleeps all night now without eating and a few times she has skipped her 10 o’clock feeding at night and has gone from six at night until six the next morning. Harold and the baby have lots of fun. Everyone says how they think that Bernice is the cutest baby in town. Of course we are all crazy about her. How do Selma and Al get along? Do you think they will get married? What do you want for Christmas? Harold says he’ll give you a baby if you want it, but you’ll have to come out here to get it. (That’s just supposed to be a joke so don’t take it serious.) The folks are going to pick the baby and me up after church and we’re going to have lunch over there and I’ll stay the rest of the day. Were you surprised to hear about Dorothy and Frank? They expect to be married in June. I believe she will have a big church wedding. We don’t see Bill very much any more. He still goes with Mary Ellen. Pete and Kathryn came over for a while last night. She’s teaching school over ___ Spokane. We see Lois and Pat a lot. They have been teaching us how to play contract bridge. Dorothy and Hank come over every Monday night and then the boys take care of the baby while Dorothy and I go to Mildred Douglas. It’s more or less a Monday night club. I’ve been terribly busy selling Christmas cards and then working some at Bill’s every day so I don’t have much time. I had better quit now but will try to write more often. Thanks for everything. Love, Stella Say hello to all the kids for me. I wrote Eden a letter when I sent the package but I haven’t sent the letter yet. Helen I forgot to tell you that when Jimmy went out to Vivian’s tonight Mother told him to be home by 9:30 and Pop said that if Jim had to be home that early he might as well not go. So Pop told him to be home by twelve. Pop is certainly swell that way. Well goodnight now for sure. It’s ten o’clock and I’m going to scribble a note to Gladys.