The Music of Christmas - Day 7
December 7th, 2006 by Phil
This is not your typical Christmas song. No mention of Santa, no mention of presents, no mention of snow, no mention of children, no mention of reindeer, tinsel, toys, or almost anything you’d associate with Christmas.
It does mention Christmas bells, though. In fact, Christmas bells are pivotal to the story in this song. You see, it’s during the first World War, and Snoopy is fighting that dastardly Red Baron one Christmas Eve. But it’s not looking good for our World War I Flying Ace; in fact, the Red Baron targets him and could blow him out of the sky.
Except he doesn’t. As the sound of Christmas bells rise up from the town below, the Red Baron and Snoopy land and have a toast to goodwill and peace, and then they fly off to fight another day.
I first heard this song several years ago, and then several Christmases went by without so much as a single note of it on the radio. Now, I catch it but a few times every holiday season, so I always make sure to leave the radio on when I do. The song is entirely fictional, of course, but it brings to mind the Christmas Truce of 1914, when some English and German troops in Belgium stopped fighting for an all-too brief period. As the cold night settled upon them, they started singing carols, exchanged greetings, and even gave each other small gifts.
Whether or not you believe in the religious aspects of the holiday season, certainly you can believe in the the magic of Christmas to bring peace and hope to all. It might not always happen, but it’s always better to have hope. I think we could all use that hope today.
Tomorrow — Here’s where you start questioning my musical taste, I’m sure.
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