Christmas morning of 2017 I visited American Digest because I knew Gerard would have several good posts about Christmas and the entire Christmas season, and Lo and Behold he had the same exact Christmas Eve Apollo 8 video that our pastor played for us during church services on Christmas Eve.
Our pastor's message was that even though the year 1968 was so divisive, violent, and chaotic, the Apollo 8 mission at Christmas united the country, and the world, and “saved” 1968.
Hard to argue with that, and in any case I won’t try, because I loved Christmas Eve 1968. It is probably my warmest Christmas memory.
I was nine years old, and everything that happens when you're nine years old remains very vivid forever, so that's part of it. But that Apollo 8 mission at Christmas time, when mankind launched a space mission to orbit the moon -- and then come back safely -- was absolutely riveting. It's hard to imagine today how amazing this was back in 1968.
It made Christmas 1968 even more amazing and filled with wonder than it already is every other year.
Have a great Christmas, all!