![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_bJ1qLQjH1OjttjCKbxC2R01xQqZRROhCWC5kRahzTXTLxlDrtkcvTMVPq6TXP2P1unR5e1EKoYru73qH6ExRTbrTSqCS7jxE-KHOtu8-TpA2tZtY55qou-Q39IxYNvv6zJpF6mehp0/s400/eltoroxmas+-+colorized.JPG)
Christmas is now officially just around the corner, and here's a little companion piece to my recent Thanksgiving post. I lifted (and then colorized) the artwork above from the 1945
MCAS El Toro Christmas dinner menu shown below.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yTXqDbxEuqUj2lx2duRnA3eDRFMmP7H1Bf9gwJOTigiD4B9WOsY7bQdANLgQ_sD3BL7r1nubXYbo6LRKZhhfCD5jk3PIaU_l5dm5Td8sPmYLqx334-5L68Q4jkwzvfSuxKNiz7PRyMQ/s400/eltoroxmas1.JPG)
From nose art on bombers to mess hall murals to unit logos, a lot of fun artwork -- both professional and amateur -- was generated as part of the war effort. Today I'm sure this menu would have some benign clip art on the front. But in 1945 we got Santa with a lecherous gleam in his eye.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8cXk9ydE2Dp-EBMK2xDuexmc3RAXxymkpKSeBorFvLumzSkqP5VdTmObQC0nafNW9ahyphenhyphenuo658h7a9sko8ga9unqPACOQs2Qztm94ulRXc68xSLTmiH5zChPT8OGiW8_kD2NOtsq35vds/s400/eltoroxmas2.jpg)
Once again, this menu comes from the collection of
CSUF's
Center for Oral & Public History. The food selections bear a striking resemblance to the Thanksgiving menu from that same year.
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Does anyone else wonder why the reindeer has a spear sticking out of him? It seems fairly non-jolly and un-festive.
I cleaned up the back panel a bit in Photoshop and it still looks bad. It was damaged by one of those sticky "magnetic" or "magic pages" scrapbooks.
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Folks,... PLEASE don't use those things. However, if you already have family photos and momentos in one of those books, just leave them there for a couple decades until the glue dries up and they fall out. Otherwise, you're likely to damage the contents during the attempt to peel them off the pages.