Papers look at troops' Christmas

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As Christmas Eve dawns, many Sunday papers turn their attention towards British forces serving overseas.

The Independent on Sunday carries pages of letters written by troops to their families in the UK.

Military personnel keep their morale up how they can, the paper says. Last year there was a fancy dress fun run in Basra, where camouflage Santa hats were worn.  

The paper also looks at how UK forces kept their spirits up at Christmas during World War I and II.

Wives waiting

As papers focus on UK troops, the Independent says many in Afghanistan and Iraq will have their guns with them even as they eat their Christmas lunch. 

The Sunday Telegraph looks at the story from the perspective of the servicemen's wives who are waiting for their husbands to come home.  

One woman tells how the Christmas celebration will happen only when her partner's six-month tour of duty ends.  

And the News of the World says simply: "cheers to our heroes". 

Shop sales

Christmas shopping also features in many papers.

For the Observer it is "the stay at home Christmas" - where internet sales have resulted in fewer people going out to buy their presents.  

The Mail on Sunday gives a detailed account of how some of the country's largest shopping centres were relatively quiet on Saturday. 

And this was despite it being expected to be the busiest shopping day of the year, the paper says.

Bono's knighthood

The honorary knighthood of veteran singer Bono is covered by the papers - most drawing comparisons with Bob Geldof, who received the same award.  

The Mail on Sunday sees it as evidence of what it calls "the grotesque level of cronyism Tony Blair has encouraged".

However, other papers are more up-beat about the development.  

The News of the World says Bono is not just a great rocker - but a knight in shining armour to those whose lives his campaigning has helped improved.