The Three Kings

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the author of The Three Kings, is one of the most famous American poets of all time. In 1877 he wrote the poem, The Three Kings to tell the story of the wise men traveling to meet Jesus at his birth. The wise men are a wonderful model of worship to share with our children, especially at Christmastime. What I love about this poem was that Longfellow adds some of his own imaginative details, speculating at parts of the story and adding humanity to the nameless Wise Men. Like, having them nod off as they rode on their long journey to Bethlehem. But, he also closely follows the nativity story. So much so, that I chose to share this Christmas poem with my kids so we could purposefully connect it to the actual accounts in the gospel record. The Christmas stories of the famous authors: Gilbert Keith Chesterton - A Christmas Carol, Lucy Maud Montgomery - A Christmas Inspiration, A Christmas Mistake, Christmas at Red Butte, Lyman Frank Baum -A Kidnapped Santa Claus, Mark Twain - A Letter from Santa Claus, Louisa May Alcott - A Merry Christmas, Leo Tolstoy - A Russian Christmas Party, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - Christmas Bells, Nikolai Gogol - Christmas Eve, William Dean Howells - Christmas Everyday, Joseph Rudyard Kipling - Christmas in India, Lyman Frank Baum - Little Bun Rabbit, Elizabeth Harrison - Little Gretchen and the Wooden Shoe, John Milton - On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity, Charles Dickens - The Chimes, Nathaniel Hawthorne -The Christmas Banquet, Hans Christian Andersen - The Fir Tree, Selma Lagerlöf - The Holy Night, Hans Christian Andersen - The Little Match Girl, Clement Moore - The Night Before Christmas, Henry van Dyke - The Other Wise Man, William Dean Howells - The Pony Engine and the Pacific Express, Beatrix Potter - The Tailor of Gloucester, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - The Three Kings, Anton Chehov - Vanka.