Merry Christmas From the Heathen You Know

And Happy Holidays, too.

Photo source: National Churchill Museum

On Christmas Day, 1914, only four months into the brutality of World War I, a spontaneous miracle happened on the Western Front.  On that day German and British soldiers laid down their arms and gathered together in No Man's Land to share food and cigarettes, sing Christmas carols, and play a few games of football.
 On other battle lines along the front,  "Merry Christmas" signs were hastily constructed and held up to cheers from the other side. Without orders and in spite of warnings from their superiors, the soldiers on both sides declared a truce for a few hours on what was supposed to be one magical day.  But for some, the truce lasted for days into weeks, or until new troops replaced those who had been involved. There are reports that the truce happened the next year and the year after that and each year on Christmas Day until that terrible war ended.

For generations, Christmas has held that kind of Good Will magic, and no matter who we are or where we are or how we got there, that holiday spirit endures.  For a few days out of the year millions of us do our best to take kindness to a whole new level.  We wake up with a song in our heart, feeling good. We want to do things. Not to others but for others.  For a precious few days near the end of the year we like people.  We really, really like them!

So imagine my surprise when I found an article in Newsweek entitled, “The War On Christmas Is Real”. No, it wasn’t a leftover from years ago. It’s dated December 21, 2023. That was yesterday! Since I’m in such a good mood and I don’t want to spoil the holidays for you, either, I won’t quote from it. I won’t even make judgment on it.

Still, I feel the need to say this plain:  I, a secular liberal, love my Christmas.  Christmas is in my blood, pagan as my blood may be, and  I've been celebrating it for what seems like an eternity.  Through new births and great losses, through times thick and thin, this is the one Happy Holiday season that I wouldn't ever want to miss.

I love Christmas carols as much as I love sweet secular Christmas songs and it's okay because it's Christmas.

As much as I love the Chinese Restaurant scene in "The Christmas Story",  it's also possible to really, really look forward to interpretations of  The Bible's nativity scene.

For the world’s Christians there is a sacred meaning to Christmas.  Churches across the country celebrate the birth of Christ, each in their own way. I love singing Christmas carols during candlelight services. I love the story of the weary travelers finding only a lowly manger where Mary gives birth to Jesus and the three Wise Men come, bearing gifts, and shepherds marvel at an amazing bright star appearing out of nowhere, shining light on the glorious birth. Who wouldn’t love that?

So when I say I want to wish you Happy Holidays and a very Merry Christmas, you'll just have to trust that I mean it from the bottom of my heart.

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