Holidays In The C.C.C.

Typically, any enrollee who had earned the privilege and who wanted to would be allowed to go home for the holidays if time permitted and distances were not too great. However, between 1933 and 1942 any Civilian Conservation Corps enrollee or camp supervisor who could not get leave found himself away from home during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. To ease the pain of separation from family and loved-ones, most C.C.C. camps prepared special dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas and held Christmas parties, often “adopting” local children and inviting residents to visit the camps.

A CCC mess hall decorated for a holiday meal.

Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees performed no work on Thanksgiving and Christmas, beyond the duties required to keep the camp running and a special holiday meal would be prepared. Often special menus would be printed describing the day’s meal, occasionally noting that cigars or cigarettes would be available following the meal. Additionally, a Company roster would sometimes be printed in the menu, to become a souvenir of an enrollee’s time in the C.C.C.