I was checking to see if by any lucky chance I'd missed an update of the Varlet (which I continue to think is your best story ever), and I ran across this one which is lovely.  I don't think I'd seen it before. 

I remember reading a historical novel, in grade school, that told of the analogous incident in France in the 1914-1918 War.  I was tremendously moved, but also saddened by the futility of it all, by the horrible tribalism and unvarnished greed for power that sent so many young men to war against so many others just like them for so little reason.  I was in the anti-Vietnam demonstrations a few years later, and I've often wondered what and where the story was that had such a tremendous effect on my worldview.   Thank you for reminding me of it.  (And please update The Varlet.  Please???)

Well done, Doom.  Gave me goosebumps all the way through, and as always, it was beautifully written.  Merry Jingle.

Nice, and very familiar. ; )

Beautiful.

I first remember hearing about this incident in Modern European History class in high school when we studied WW1 well over 40 years ago, A lone young soldier left the trenches and went out into No Man's Land and began singing Stille Nacht, when the other heard him they began singing too. Soon all of the soldiers from oth sides who were in the area were out of the trenches and standing in No Man's Land wishing each other a Happy Christmas or a Frolich Weinachten. I can no longer remember where this happened for sure, but I think it was around Ypres.I've often wondered how many of those young men survied the war, or if they had wives and children waiting for them to come home after the war. My own father was killed in WW2. He was a navigator on a B24 and the plane was shot down over St. Lo, only one man had a chance to bail out and the rest of the crew, 10 young men, were killed on impact. My father was 26 and I was a few months past my first birthday the day he was killed.

Great imagery. You're so gifted in story telling. Thank you.

Wow. That is amazing.

Very nice!  Someone who reviewed my story based on the same premise recced your story to me.  Good job!  I enjoyed it very much.