Here we trace the history of the Second World War through six wartime Christmases, with fascinating information on how people in Britain, Allied troops at home and British servicemen aboard celebrated the festive season. This highly illustrated and informative guide explores how people made the most of trying times, hanging paper chains in air-raid shelters and enriching Christmas cakes with gravy browning. Through rationing, bad news and good, absences, losses and homecomings, Christmas cheer bubbled up during these dark years. For many, of course, Christmas proved a sad time, with reflections on the years of peace gone by, toasting loved ones far away, and thinking of those who would never come home. But for six years Christmas and the New Year were celebrated with song, jokes, simple gifts, and the wish that ‘next year the war will be over’.