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"A symbolic moment of peace, grace, and humility amidst one of humanity’s most violent and disgraceful events".
"In December of 1914, a series of grassroots, unofficial ceasefires took hold of the Western Front in the heat of WWI. On Christmas, soldiers from an estimated 100,000 British and German troops began to exchange seasonal greetings and sing songs across the trenches",........ Continue Reading

After much stress
And living in strife,
I'm letting you know
Of the passing of my wife.
Sadly at 8:22 this morning. RIP my sweet one.

Am I a writer?
There's a thought.
Am I a novelist?
I think naught.

I enjoy writing,
words which I do.
If they cause thought,
then I do too.

Words which I used
to write this way,
may last awhile
or just go away.

What loss love?
What to do now.
You don't know me,
I will fulfill my vow.

Roaming through the years of life,
passing by stress and strife,
what they do, make a choice,
go with gusto, use your voice.

Thoughts run, throughout my head,
why are most of my classmates dead?
Have I lived a sheltered life,
so, I could stay to protect my wife?

I do not know. Nary a clue,
so, I am confused on what to do.
Abandon all who came with me
or just retire into my senility.

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:

What's that in the center? Like a butterfly, a white dwarf star begins its life by casting off a cocoon of gas that enclosed its former self. In this analogy, however, the Sun would be a caterpillar and the ejected shell of gas would become the prettiest cocoon of all. In the featured cocoon, the planetary nebula designated NGC 2440 contains one of the hottest white dwarf stars known. The white dwarf can be seen as the bright orange dot near the image center. Our Sun will eventually become a white dwarf butterfly, but not for another 5 billion years.

“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
...“And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) American poet and educator . His works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline. He was was one of the Fireside Poets from New England and the first American to translate Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Wikipedia

The bells of the chapel,
swayed in the breeze,
pealing out the message,
It's now Christmas Eve.

Long were the months,
which came in between,
as we approached
a Christmas scene.

Once more, with gusto,
I will move toward
a new beginning,
not drawing my sword.

The wayward tale of a love gone astray,
in this large World in which we live.
There will always be temptations, which
arise, which challenge us to use good
judgement, involving issues of trust and
moral fortitude.
We are all human. We know our weaknesses.
We have our strengths. We are the same
and yet we are different in how we deal with
the issues we face during this life.
The decisions made set us up to be good
or someone who needs guidance.