The Christmas Truce of 1914

Merry Christmas to you from Jennifer Uhlarik! I hope you all are having a wonderful day with family and friends, and remembering the true meaning of this blessed season.

Perhaps some of you have already heard of the Christmas Truce of 1914, but I was so taken with the story that I thought I would share it with you. It’s such a wonderful piece of history, you can’t help but enjoy it, even if it’s not “new” to you. The story goes like this:

On Christmas Eve, just five months after the start of World War I, soldiers from both sides sat shivering in their respective trenches along the Western Front when the Germans began to sing Christmas carols. The familiar songs carried across the distance to the English, and they also began to sing. It’s said that in some places, soldiers brought out instruments to accompany the singing. Through the night, both German and English troops sang in their respective languages.

Soldiers mingling during the Christmas Truce of 1914.

By dawn on Christmas morning, a few brave Germans ventured out of their trenches to cross into no-man’s land and approach the Allied forces. At first, the English soldiers were wary, expecting a trick, but they saw that none of the opposing troops carried weapons. Only then did they crawl out of their trenches and step out to meet their fellow man.



Enjoying a moment of peace in the thick of war.

These troops converged between their respective sides, shook hands, talked, and even played a friendly game of soccer together. Having nothing other than what little they could carry with them, they exchanged cigarettes and chocolate as gifts. For a brief time, Allied and German soldiers met together in order to celebrate Christmas. It mattered not that later that day or the next they would return to fighting. For that one moment, they were at peace, staring into the eyes of their avowed enemies in order to experience a moment of true peace and harmony.

Please enjoy this brief depiction of the Christmas Truce of 1914 which I found online.

My wish for you this Christmas is that you will also experience true peace as you contemplate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. May you all be blessed today and all year through! Merry CHRISTmas!

Jennifer Uhlarik discovered the western genre as a pre-teen, when she swiped the only “horse” book she found on her older brother’s bookshelf. A new love was born. Across the next ten years, she devoured Louis L’Amour westerns and fell in love with the genre. In college at the University of Tampa, she began penning her own story of the Old West. Armed with a B.A. in writing, she has won five writing competitions and finaled in two other competitions. In addition to writing, she has held jobs as a private business owner, a schoolteacher, a marketing director, and her favorite—a full-time homemaker. Jennifer is active in American Christian Fiction Writers and lifetime member of the Florida Writers Association. She lives near Tampa, Florida, with her husband, teenaged son, and four fur children.

1914 Christmas Advertising

This post is about Christmas advertising one hundred years ago, in December 1914. However, I could not write this post without touching on the Great War which began on August 4th, 1914 when Britain declared war on Germany. I won't go into the reasons as this post isn't about the war, but I want to say that as Canada deemed its allegiance to the British Crown, Canada automatically put what little might she had behind Britain and began recruiting. After several months, shortages were being felt. Some Canadians thought Christmas should be cancelled and all money and efforts put toward the war effort, but others said life must go on and that they could not give their children a life of fear, as long as the war stayed in Europe. And the British children had a reason to fear as can be seen by this Dec 17, 1914 headliner. 

The Morning Leader (Regina, SK) - Dec 17, 1914

The following clippings are recipes from Regina, Saskatchewan, and Barrie, Ontario, the latter which includes the reason for making candy at such a time as war.

The costs for sugar and flour were higher, but not by much, and rationing hadn't been implemented yet, so the array of goods available for baking was quite suitable.

The Morning Leader (Regina, SK) - Dec 21, 1914

Stores still carried a full line of toys and books to keep little minds and hands occupied, along with skates and guns for outdoor adventure.

The Morning Leader (Regina, SK) - Dec 21, 1914

The Morning Leader (Regina, SK) - Dec 21, 1914

An interesting find while searching for men's gifts was the wording change from mufflers, as in the Morning Leader ad, to scarfs, as in the Barrie Examiner ad. In my research of the early days on the Canadian prairies, a knitted scarf was always referred to as a muffler, so to see it printed as a scarf in an Ontario newspaper makes me wonder if it was a geographical difference or a change of the times. 

Gift ads for her were harder to choose from because although newspapers usually had a plethora of fashion ads for women's wear, December papers seemed to display everything but fashion except for furs. When you look at the other prices, these fur coats seem extravagant although they were the warmest to wear through the prairie winters.

The Morning Leader (Regina, SK) - Dec 12, 1914 

Here are some of the things listed as gifts for women in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

And finally, we see the jewelry store ads which sorts the gifts in orderly fashion by price. This would surely help those who walk in the store with a set amount to spend on a gift for someone.

Barrie Examiner, (Barrie, ON), 10 Dec 1914

No mention of a correlation between the war and shopping was made other than what I mentioned at the start of this post. I believe it may have been a determined effort to give the families, and children in particular, a happy Christmas, due to many of the men volunteering for the Canadian Expeditionary Force and leaving their families alone at Christmas. 

What are your thoughts on these Christmas gifts and their cost? Any surprises? Did you see anything you'd like to find under your tree this year?

In celebration of the publication of my short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, I'm holding a draw with a deadline of 11:59 pm this Sunday, Dec 7th, for a giveaway of one copy of A Cup of Christmas Cheer Vol 3&4.  If you want to be entered, leave a comment. 

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Anita Mae Draper is retired from the Canadian Armed Forces and lives on the prairie of southeast Saskatchewan, Canada with her hubby of 30 plus years and the youngest of their four kids. She writes cowboy stories set in the West, and Edwardian stories set in the East.  Anita is blessed to have two short stories in Guideposts Books A Cup of Christmas Cheer collection which includes Here We Come A-Wassailing, published in Volume 4 Heartwarming Tales of Christmas Present, October 2014, and Riding on a Christmas Wish  published in Volume 1 Tales of Faith and Family. Anita Mae is represented by Mary Keeley of Books & Such Literary Management. You can find Anita Mae at   www.anitamaedraper.com