[Partial translation]

31 December 1937 [Father]

[...] I would also like to add a few words [...] all the Christmas letters, including those from Willi, Emmels and all the acquaintances, arrived before Christmas. It made us so happy to get so many letters from all of our dear ones. It is nice to be able to meet by writing on such days. I must admit, that at Christmas I was more with you in America than here. I imagine it was the same with you [...] if we cannot be together in person then at least we want to get together in our thoughts and commend one another to the mercy of the dear Lord in our prayers [...] to our great joy today the photo album arrived, thus we have you all here with us [...] also one can see that little Paul has been thriving during the four months of our absence. The album went through customs, was opened and we had to pay 45 Pfennig customs duty. The runner by Margie also came in it. Ma was very happy about it and sends many thanks. Last week I got a death notice from Frau Glaser, her son Heinrich, who lived in the Dotzheimerstrasse 38, has died. I had written her at the beginning of the week to recall the money, today I got a notice about the house and property, saying that my recall is useless, because according to the law on loans from capital several points do not apply, which would be necessary in our case, and they reject the recall. For the moment we will let the matter rest because we would not be able to do anything with the money anyway and because in this way it brings in more interest than somewhere else. We also want to try and see if we can get a place in Wiesbaden come spring. After all, there is no place available here in Steeden, and now Johanna has no opportunity to find work should it become necessary. For the moment we won’t worry about what could happen later but will accept the situation in which we find ourselves. Let us also hope that we will see one another again, even if only for a visit. If we stay healthy and are a few years older we can plan on something like that again, provided we have the means [...] Greetings and auf Wiedersehen. Your Pa, W. Emmel.