For Christmas

For this Christmas post, I encourage you to click thru to the amazing, thoughtful and inspiring Christmas tale told by retired U.S. Army Colonel Pat Lang (The Huron Carol) and his readers. Over at Old Hickory, Bruce recounts the story of the famous 1914 Christmas truce, held during the holiday that most thought they would be home before. Thirty years later, U.S. forces fought one of the most intensive battles of the Second World War in the Ardennes Forest. And up until the debacle in Holland, they too thought they would be on their way home for their Christmas in '44.

For so many, it is hard to imagine Christmas away from their families, friends and loved ones - much less a Christmas spent in a war zone in combat. Again this Christmas, thousands of our countrymen remain deployed and sadly, far too many of them are serving in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let's hope that they too, today, can enjoy a brief respite from their work.

(Photo: Cross and wreath laid in 1999 to commemorate the 1914 Christmas Truce, Ypres, Belgium via Wikimedia Common)