This article appeared in the Loveland Reporter Herald on December 19, 2019.  It has been updated to reflect changes since 2019.

The cold air bit at their noses and fingertips. The toilets overflowed.

It was Christmas Eve, 1914. Early in World War I.

A dusting of snow covered the outside ground, but a miserable sloppy mud came halfway up soldiers’ boots inside the trenches.

British forces heard nothing but the cracking and whining of gunfire and distant voices for two months — German voices.

The British and German trenches were so close, they could smell each other’s cooking.

As Christmas Eve settled in, an eerie silence hung in cold clear air.  Soldiers on both sides were already tired of the war and wished they were home.

About 8:30 p.m., the sounds of German voices singing “Stille Nacht” (“Silent Night”) drifted across a few yards of No Man’s Land to the British trenches.

The Brits responded by singing, “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.”

By Christmas Day, a few German soldiers emerged from their trenches unarmed. They approached the British calling out “Merry Christmas.”

The Brits emerged cautiously, and soon both sides were exchanging small Christmas treats — cognac, cigarettes, chocolates, sausages and biscuits.

The troops shook hands and took photos of one another.

By afternoon Christmas Day, a football game — soccer — emerged.  Reports say “made-up footballs” were used, such as bully-beef tins (corned beef).

A British soldier had his hair cut by his pre-war German barber that afternoon.

About 100,000 British and German troops participated in informal Christmas truces — but the truces were considered illegal, and some troops continued fighting.

In a letter to his mother, British Capt. A.C. Chater wrote, “We are…having another truce on New Year’s Day, as the Germans want to see how the photos come out!”

At the war’s end in 1918, the death count was about 20 million and the injury count 21 million — one of the deadliest wars in history.

Murdoch M. Wood, a British soldier, speaking in 1930, said: “I then came to the conclusion that if we had been left to ourselves, there would never have been another shot fired.”

As Christmas 2021 approaches — in a world of strife and division — it’s comforting to know that peace triumphed — in an unlikely spot — by ordinary, everyday young men.

Our world has been through a lot since I wrote back in 2019.

Back in 2019, we did not know that COVID-19, masks, vaccines, social-distancing and school closures would be a part of our daily lives.

So, while this holiday season carries the weight of the last two years, it also carries hope.

It carries hope because we know ordinary soldiers — suffering from cold and weary of war — put aside weapons for a few days to celebrate the power of love.

I think we — as ordinary citizens — can also — moment by moment — open our hearts to love.

I wish all my readers blessings and peace during this Holy Season.

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