Commentary By Christmas Day 1914, five months after the outbreak of the Great War, trenches filled with British, Canadian, French, and German troops faced each other on a deadly European battlefront. On that sacred occasion, a remarkable event occurred. For a brief time, the thunder of gunfire and exploding artillery was interrupted by the sound of men singing Christmas carols to one another from the cover of their opposing positions. In an unofficial ceasefire, soldiers on both sides of the conflict began climbing out of their trenches and sharing gestures of peace and goodwill. It began with German soldiers approaching the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” or “Joyeux Noël” in the native tongues of the enemy troops. At first, the Allied soldiers feared a deception, but seeing the Germans were not armed they too emerged from cover and shook hands with their foe. Historians have reported that …