Our American Stories

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Sunday Mornings with Big Mitch: Ep. 10 Dec 28, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, every Sunday, Our American Stories host Lee Habeeb speaks with Mitchel "Big Mitch" Rutledge, who has spent more than forty years serving a life sentence in Alabama. Each call traces the shape of faith, regret, and forgiveness inside a place built for punishment.

This time, Mitch revisits the uncertain two weeks between his sentencing hearing and the judge's final decision. That stretch of time pulled a lot into focus, and eventually led him to write "A World Within a World," a poem about growing up locked away from the life most people take for granted. He also talks about death row: the silence, the rituals, and the men who disappeared one by one. The episode closes with "Disdain," a piece about resisting the slow pull toward bitterness when hope feels out of reach.

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Hess Trucks: The Christmas Tradition That Started at a Gas Station Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1964, Leon Hess set out to give children something fun and affordable at his gas stations—and ended up creating a toy truck that lit up, rolled out, and quickly sold out. Sixty years later, Hess Trucks have become a holiday tradition, with collectors, families, and fans marking each annual release like a mini Christmas of its own. Hess Toy Truck director Justin Mayer and longtime superfan Mike Roberto share how a simple seasonal idea grew into a uniquely East Coast obsession.

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The Night Apollo 8 Read the Bible From Lunar Orbit Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, on Christmas Eve 1968, the crew of Apollo 8 became the first humans to orbit the Moon. Joined by astronomer and broadcaster Steve Kates, known as Dr. Sky, they recall the moment the astronauts read from the Book of Genesis, uniting millions of listeners on Earth during a tense and historic holiday season in the midst of the Cold War.

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When Santa Visited a Nursing Home Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Our American Stories listener and regular contributor Stephen Rusiniak shares the story of the time he worked in a nursing home as a teenager and what happened when Santa made an unexpected visit.

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Silent Night: The Story of the World’s Most Famous Christmas Carol Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, on Christmas Eve in 1818, in a snow-covered Austrian village, a broken organ forced a last-minute change. What came next was history. Two men—one a priest, the other a schoolteacher—scribbled out a carol for guitar and voice and performed it that night by candlelight. “Silent Night” would go on to become the most beloved Christmas hymn in the world. Here’s the History Guy with the story of the song.

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How One Man Became Santa in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, in the chaotic weeks following Hurricane Katrina, John Rogers never planned to become Santa; he simply found himself in a position to help and chose to act. What followed was an unexpected Christmas for children who had lost their homes, their routines, and nearly everything familiar.

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“White Christmas” and the Jewish Immigrant Who Wrote It Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, for generations, “White Christmas” has served as the soundtrack to the holiday season. Its lyrics and melody helped define what Christmas sounds like in America, shaping holiday music for decades. Yet the man who wrote it, Irving Berlin, did not celebrate Christmas. He arrived in the United States as a Jewish immigrant from Russia and built his career as one of the most influential songwriters in American history. Our host, Lee Habeeb, shares the story.

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How Washington Irving Reinvented the Meaning of Christmas Dec 26, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Christmas today feels timeless. December 25 arrives with trees, carols, family dinners, and familiar rituals passed down for generations. But in early America, Christmas caused trouble. Celebrations spilled into the streets. Drinking, violence, and disorder followed. Some towns had had enough; they banned Christmas outright.

So how did a holiday once viewed as a public nuisance become a national tradition? The answer runs through shifting ideas about religion, culture, and social order, and through the work of an unlikely figure: Washington Irving. Author and biographer Brian J. Jones, known for his acclaimed works on Washington Irving, George Lucas, and Jim Henson, shares the story of how Christmas was reshaped into the holiday Americans recognize today.

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How a Chicago Janitor Wrote a Hallmark Christmas Movie Dec 25, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, before Christmas Under the Stars became a Hallmark Channel staple, it was a quiet story written by a Chicago-area janitor. By day, Rikk Dunlap fixed leaky faucets and gym bleachers. By night, he wrote fiction, never expecting one of his midnight works to become the hit it is now. Rikk joins us to explain how one Christmas tree lot, one unforgettable character, and one quiet manuscript changed the course of everything for him.

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The Man Who Spent All of His Christmas Savings Building Beds for Needy Children Dec 25, 2025

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Luke Mickelson, founder of Sleep in Heavenly Peace, tells how a meeting in his church turned into a Boy Scouts project, a Christmas tradition, and 50,000 free beds for needy families every year.

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