Christmas Ideals 2025

Celebrate the wonder and hope of this holiday season with Christmas Ideals, a time-honored tradition and family favorite.

Continuing its legacy of holiday cheer and warmth, this Ideals annual Christmas edition is a collection of poetry, essays, quotations, recipes, and Bible excerpts. Each carefully chosen selection from authors such as C.S. Lewis, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Pamela Kennedy is complemented by full-color artwork or beautiful photography to inspire and remind readers about the meaning of Christmas. For more than 80 years, loyal readers and their families have been drawn to Ideals as a time-honored tradition each Christmas.

Melinda Rathjen has been editor of Ideals for more than a decade. During that time, she has chosen countless pieces of artwork, photos, poems, and stories, and tested more than 100 recipes. Melinda lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where she enjoys writing and editing children’s books as well.