Merry Christmas - no matter how you spell it

Merry Christmas - no matter how you spell it.

OK, that was a misquote of a Facebook post a friend sent me. She is Jewish and the line was ?Happy Hanukkah - no matter how you spell it.? She was wishing people well in the spirit of the holidays. Right back at you, Elisabeth ? I wish nothing but happiness for you and yours.

It is a simple line but it raises a lot of thought, much like most of the other things she says. It is saying most people have their own beliefs around this time of year, and they like celebrating it with their friends. It is a time of giving, brotherly love and peace on Earth. It is not the time to focus on what makes people different, it is a time to focus on what makes people the same.

I say ?Merry Christmas.? I?m sure the social justice warriors out there would like to lock me in a jail cell because of it, but the last I heard we have a First Amendment in this country and I will call it what I want. I believe their politically correct term is ?holidays.? Some people say other things - ?Happy Hanukkah,? ?Happy Kwanza,? ? I wish it right back, but I just call it something different.

An old friend of mine was a Marine and he used to love telling a story of something that happened during World War I. It was Christmas Eve 1914 in Belgium. On the front lines British and German troops were huddled in their trenches. The cold was causing as many casualties as bullets or poison gas that had recently been introduced into the war. Suddenly, from the German trenches, came singing. The soldiers lit candles and sang carols. They propped up improvised decorations on their trenches.

The British responded, singing carols along with the soldiers in the German trenches. The men ? who had been fighting to the death not more than a few hours earlier ? came out of their trenches, meeting in no-man?s land. They celebrated Christmas together, although there was no official truce called. The men from the two sides came together and exchanged gifts ? food and souvenirs. They had prisoner exchanges and most of the meetings ended in carol singing. It also gave burial parties the chance to recover fallen comrades. The two sides played games of football (soccer) together. Roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in the unofficial ceasefire.

The following year a few units arranged cease-fires, but they weren?t as widespread as the one in 1914. This, I think, is due to strong orders from the high commands prohibiting ?fraternization? with the enemy. There have been other recorded instances of unofficial cease-fires during wartime, but none like the Christmas of 1914.

This, of course, leads to the obvious question ? if such mortal enemies can put aside their differences, can?t we do the same?

For whoever reads this, I wish you a happy and merry Christmas, and you can call it whatever you want.