On December 24, ...

... 1914, in Europe, troops took a pause from the global conflict launched a couple months earlier to declare what's now known as the "Christmas Truce." This pause from the bloodshed of World War I has become the stuff of myth and film, among them Joyeux Noël. Though on many battlefields the truce was in fact less than complete, one commentator writes:

In the public's mind the facts have become irrevocably mythologized, and perhaps this is the most important legacy of the Christmas Truce today. In our age of uncertainty, it comforting to believe, regardless of the real reasoning and motives, that soldiers and officers told to hate, loathe and kill, could still lower their guns and extend the hand of goodwill, peace, love and Christmas cheer.

... 1943, Tarja Halonen (left), President of the Republic of Finland since 2000, and its Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1995-2000, was born in Helsinki. In naming her the world's 50th most powerful woman this year, Forbes pointed to her support in drafting a new European treaty, and added that she

backs policies that focus on human rights and 'international solidarity.' She also opposes Nato membership and has called herself a 'relative pacifist,' where she is against disarmament but is still for a strong military.

Though Halonen was the 1st woman to lead her country or its foreign affairs department, there's been a sea change there, according to Forbes:

In April, Finland appointed the world's most female-dominated cabinet; 60%, or 12 of the 20 ministers, are women.