Christmas time

It's really hard to try and not write about this time of the year. Everyone urging the days to go by quicker so that the big man can come! Even now it seems quite a while a way until Christmas yet people are still running around the city like headless chickens as if things are going out of fashion. Kids queueing to see Santa constantly saying "I want this", "I want that". Have we really forgot the true meaning of Christmas?

To me Christmas is about spending time with your family and enjoying a nice dinner and reminiscing on the past hectic year. I guarantee without fail the words "Where has the year gone?" will make an appearance during the day but who cares? Everyone has a laugh about the family's misfortunes and we can watch the same rubbish that is on the television for yet another year. For example, Singing in the Rain. I cannot begin to count on my fingers how many times I have watched films like this on Christmas day but every year, my gran still acts surprised when she sees these and still insists in us all watching them! This has just become a tradition for the Laing family on Christmas Day and I wouldn't change it for the world. Everyone is just so relaxed for one day we can just stuff ourselves with delicious food and just forget about all our worries.



It is quite easy to take it for granted how lucky we are to all be spending time together but some people are not so fortunate. A friend of mine has missed out on so many Christmas' with her father who is a soldier and is called away on duty at the most inappropriate times. It is the same this year for many family's across the UK who have someone on duty fighting for their country and something that I can't help think about every year is the story of the 'Christmas truce'.

During WW1 in 1914 the whole truce started on Christmas Eve with candles being placed on trees and Christmas carols being sung. It must have been a strange sight to have witnessed - an unusually cheery place to be instead of all the bloodshed. It just shows that even the most patriotic soldiers gave into their beliefs.



After a while, things were shouted out across 'No Man's Land' to the enemy trenches and troops surfaced from their 'homes' to meet with the enemy. It was as though they were old friends meeting; gifts and addresses were exchanged. There are claims that football matches even took place!

I wonder if anything like this will happen this year...?

With thanks:
http://warhistorian.org/blog1/images/christmas-truce.jpg