is that a tear?

I've said it before:  I get pretty emotional at Christmas

     Usually it's a song that sets me off.  Silent Night was my mother's favorite, and I can't help but think of her whenever I hear it.  And I love singing the song, because somehow it brings me  back in touch with her.
     Away in a Manger gets me teary eyed.  We used to sing that song in church school, (Georgette, Sandy.....am I wrong about that?)  I think about those days of innocence and youth and good health and my brothers and parents and all of a sudden somewhere around "round yon virgin" I have to rub my eyes.
     And I get pretty sad during Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
     That was a pivotal song by Judy Garland in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis.
     The movie came out in 1944, and we were a nation at war.  I can imagine families of servicemen, and servicemen themselves, singing the lyrics.
     Imagine...you are thousands of miles from home, hunkered down in a bunker, and the words "through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow" are softly sung, or quietly heard on a record player in the distance. If the fates allow.
"until then, we'll have to muddle through some how."
     That had to be powerful to the moms and dads with boys in the trenches, or in the jungles of the Pacific Theater, or on the decks of the battleships and aircraft carriers that were targets of enemy  bombers.
     It wasn't an easy time. 
     As the song suggested, next year all their troubles were far away.  The war in Europe was over by Christmas of 1945, as was the war against Japan.  Family friends who were dear to us, will be near to us once more.
     As many Christmas songs as I hear, I always wonder when the one recurring phrase will come true:
     Peace on Earth,  goodwill to man.
     I guess until then, we all will have to muddle through some how.