My tires struggled through the snow as I drove home from a long day at work. It was close to Christmas, and there was a lot to be done on top of my regular duties at work and home. I switched on the radio.
“Silent night…holy night…”
Community Newsletter
Get More Inspiration Delivered to Your Inbox
The song made me remember one of my favorite family stories. My uncle Dexter was a prisoner of war in southern Germany during World War II. He and his fellow prisoners worked the fields during the day and slept in a barn at night. He spent Christmas 1944 in enemy custody.
Dexter died when I was young, but my father kept the story alive.
“On Christmas Eve, Dexter and the other men returned to the barn after a day of hard labor,” Dad would say when he told the story at family gatherings. “One of the other prisoners had cut down a small tree and set it up on the barn floor. The men circled the tree, joined hands and sang ‘Silent Night.’”
As I drove on through the snow, I thought of my uncle, and the men who were with him, celebrating Christmas in unthinkable conditions. I said a prayer of thanks for Uncle Dexter’s few moments of reprieve around that tiny Christmas tree, and for all the extra tasks I was blessed with this time of year.
Download your FREE ebook, The Power of Hope: 7 Inspirational Stories of People Rediscovering Faith, Hope and Love
