 In 2014 , the Northumbria and Newcastle Universities Martin Luther King Peace Committee produced resources to enable schools and churches to mark the December 1914 Christmas Truces . These included lesson plans , hand @-@ outs , <unk> , PowerPoint slide shows , and full plans for assemblies , and carol services / Christmas productions . The authors explained that their purpose was both to enable schoolteachers to help children learn about the remarkable events of December 1914 , but also to use the theme of Christmas to provide a counterpoint to the UK government 's glorification of the First World War as heroic . As the Peace Committee argues , " These spontaneous acts of festive goodwill directly contradicted orders from high command , and offered an evocative and hopeful – albeit brief – recognition of shared humanity " – and thereby , they argue , give a rereading of the traditional Christmas message of " on earth peace , good will toward men . " 
