This Christmas 2025 episode will focus on the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It is this year's Christmas episode, of course, because Longfellow wrote the memorable poem Christmas Bells - which later became the Christmas hymn I Heard the Bells.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is one of America's most cherished poets, a writer whose moral vision, gentle piety, and lyrical craft helped shape the cultural and spiritual imagination of a nation. His life, marked by both literary achievement and deep personal sorrow, gave birth to works that continue to resonate strongly with Christians and lovers of Christmas traditions around the world. Among these, his poem Christmas Bells is the most enduring, reflecting Psalm 23's truth that faith can persist even through the darkest valleys of suffering.
