MK and I love Christmas for many reasons. MK remembers being one of six kids, all close in age, lining up by age and coming down the steps and seeing all the presents. I was an only kid, and my Christmas mornings weren’t nearly as hectic.
As the years went on, we remember heading to Florida to my daughter’s house for a week of family, golfing and playing with the grandchildren. It is a tradition and one that we did for as long as I can remember. Christmas morning is so much fun with littles – especially after attending midnight mass then getting up what seemed shortly thereafter.
This year would be different, though. We both got hit with a mild case of COVID-19 so we cancelled our plans so we wouldn’t spread it to other family members.
Last Sunday morning we were watching a church service conducted by one of our favorite pastors, Drew Ross at Christ Lutheran Church in Costa Mesa, CA. Drew was our Pastor when we attended Grace Lutheran in St. Pete in 2006. We’ve followed his travels and watched his career and family grow over the years.
His message was amazing as he shared a story I have never heard before – a story that happened 106 years ago during WW I. What follows is what I found on the Google machine about Drew’s tale.
Christmas Truce of 1914 - HISTORY (The following below is from that site)
The Christmas Truce occurred on and around Christmas Day 1914, when the sounds of rifles firing and shells exploding faded in a number of places along the Western Front during World War I in favor of holiday celebrations. During the unofficial ceasefire, soldiers on both sides of the conflict emerged from the trenches and shared gestures of goodwill.
On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict XV suggested a temporary hiatus of the war for the celebration of Christmas. The warring countries refused to create any official cease-fire, but on Christmas the soldiers in the trenches declared their own unofficial truce.
Starting on Christmas Eve, many German and British troops fighting in World War I sang Christmas carols to each other across the lines, and at certain points the Allied soldiers even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn on Christmas Day, some German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues.
At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. Some Germans lit Christmas trees around their trenches, and there was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.
German Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch recalled: “How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”
Some soldiers used this short-lived ceasefire for a more somber task: the retrieval of the bodies of fellow combatants who had fallen within the no-man’s land between the lines.
The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. It was never repeated—future attempts at holiday ceasefires were quashed by officers’ threats of disciplinary action—but it served as heartening proof, however brief, that beneath the brutal clash of weapons, the soldiers’ essential humanity endured.
During World War I, the soldiers on the Western Front did not expect to celebrate on the battlefield, but even a world war could not destroy the Christmas spirit.
When I heard I heard the story I thought of what we are dealing with today. We are all Americans. One nation under God. I thought of all the strife in America today. Racially. Politically. Riots and a handful of other issues.
Yet in 1914, here were bitter enemies who were trying to kill each other minutes before, then playing soccer together minutes later. It was truly a Christmas miracle.
On Monday we talked to Jae and she told us that she now has COVID-19. We then decided that we would head to Florida after all. Neither one of us can get COVID-19 from the other. Another Christmas miracle in this year of COVID-19.
Let us not forget the real of meaning – with the birth of a baby over 2000 years ago. The real miracle and meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas to you all!
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