As Christmas approaches, Churchill treats the holiday as a matter of national morale. He orders that the RAF should not bomb Germany on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day unless the Luftwaffe attacks first. He first favors ringing church bells for Christmas, but after consulting General Brooke he reverses himself because bells remain the invasion alarm. When Churchill's exhausted private secretaries ask for a week off, Churchill angrily refuses a general holiday break, saying he will work continuously himself, though he later allows each staff member one week off before the end of March. On Christmas Eve he signs copies of his books as gifts, sends the king a siren suit and the queen Fowler's usage guide, and leaves for Chequers after his secretaries struggle through crowded, understocked London to find chocolates for Clementine Churchill.

That same night, John Colville hears a rumor that Gay Margesson may be engaged to Nicholas Henderson. The news pains Colville and sends him into a long self-examination about why he still loves Gay despite her indifference and despite the faults he believes he sees in her. Elsewhere, Lord Beaverbrook performs a quiet act of kindness by leaving a necklace and a note on the desk of an overworked subordinate so the man can give it to his wife on Christmas.

At Chequers, Mary Churchill experiences an unusually complete family Christmas, with nearly everyone gathered and no official visitors. Guards still patrol the grounds and spotters remain on the roof, but the war falls unexpectedly quiet. On Christmas morning Churchill works in bed through his official and secret papers, dictating as usual and making a point of showing that duty continues. By lunchtime, however, work gives way to celebration: the family shares an enormous turkey and apples sent by Lloyd George, then listens to the king's Christmas broadcast, in which he stresses that the whole nation now lives on the front line but urges confidence in victory.

The rest of the day becomes a rare, cheerful family festival. Vic Oliver plays the piano, Sarah Churchill sings, Churchill drinks champagne and wine, sings, dances, and talks late into the night, and Mary records the occasion as one of the happiest and most united Christmases she can remember. The unofficial Christmas truce holds, with no bombs falling on Britain or Germany, though church bells remain silent and many tables still have empty chairs. In London, Harold Nicolson spends a lonely, subdued Christmas reading, dining with Raymond Mortimer, attending a ministry party, and returning through a blackout-dark, bomb-damaged city that still manages, in its pubs, to produce stubborn cheer.