Whimsy is up two points on the New York Stock Exchange

"Even the discipline of the German army was not strong enough to keep the spirit of

Christmas out of the trenches. In A German Deserter's War Experience (B.W. Huebsch), the

author, an anti-government Socialist, tells of a Christmas celebration on the Arogonne front.

"Christmas in the trenches! It was bitterly cold. We had procured a Pine tree and decorated

it with candles and cookies. Christmas trees were burning everywhere in the trenches, and at

midnight all the tress were lifted onto the parapet with their burning candles, and along the

whole line German soldiers began to sing Christmas songs in chorus. 'O du froeliche, O du

selige, gnaden bringende Weihnactszeit' ('O thous bulissful, O thou joyous, mercy-bringing

Chrstmastime!') -- hundreds of men were singing the song in that fearful wood. The French left

their threnches and stood on the parapet without any fear. There they stood, quite overpowered

by emotion, and all of them with cap in hand. We, too, had issued from our trenches. We

exchanged gifts with the French -- chocolate, cigarettes, etc. There were all laughing, and so

were we; why, we did not know. Then everybody went back to his trench, and incessantly

the carol resounded, ever more solemnly, ever more longingly -- 'O thou blissful --' All around

silence reigned; even the murdered trees seemed to listen. The charm continued, and one scarcely

dared to speak. Why could it not always be as peaceful? We thought and thought, we were as

dreamers, and had forgotten everything about us. Sudeenly a shot rang out, then another one

was fired somewhere. The spell was broken. All rushed to their rifles. Our Christmas was over."

-- from 1001 Christmas Facts and Fancies by Alfred Carl Hottes

'The boar's head in hand bear I,

Bedecked with bays and rosemary;

And I pray you, my masters, be merry,

Quot estis in convivio:

Caput apri defero,

Reddens laudes Domino.

The boar's head, as I understand,

Is the rarest dish in all this land,

Which thus bedecked with a gay garland,

Let us servire cantico:

Our steward hath provided this:

In honor of the King of bliss,

Which on this day to be served is,

In Reginensi atrio.

Boar's Head Carol, Queen's College, Oxford, Version

The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928

Days 'til Christmas