Wartime Christmas

Visiting the rebuilt Church of Our Lady in Dresden, Germany, was one of the most inspirational experiences of my life.

From my house to yours, here’s a virtual stocking filled with seven Christmas stories for your reading pleasure.

The Christmas season was especially lonely for the homesick men and women serving overseas in wartime, as well as their families on the home front. Here are a few examples of the many thousands of Christmas cards and letters that winged their way between loved ones in both world wars.

For hundreds of thousands of families around the world, Christmas 1945 marked the first holiday celebrated together after the long and lonely years of war.

Wartime mail was critically important. Imagine saying goodbye to your husband or son, knowing that you will not see his face or hear his voice for years — maybe forever. Mail was the lifeline, both for the boys over there and the folks back home.

A few years before he died, I asked my father what was the best Christmas he could remember. I expected him to recall his childhood, or a time when his own children were young. But without hesitation, he said: “Christmas 1945!”