Letters From Father Christmas, Centenary Edition

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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What’s Letters from Father Christmas About?

From 1920-1943 JRR Tolkien wrote letters to his children from Father Christmas—generally multiple letters per year. These were (generally) not quick little notes, but were letters that could take multiple pages. Tolkien wrote these in an ornate penmanship where Father Christmas talks about their letters to him, and tells stories about life at the North Pole. Part of his stories—and a frequent contributor to these letters was Polar Bear (with his own penmanship, and idiosyncratic spelling), and Ilbereth the Elf joins later and his handwriting might as well be one of those fancy typefaces people use for overpriced wedding invitations.

In addition to well-wishes, responses to the letters received from the children, and assurances of gifts coming the letters contain updates on life at the North Pole. Sometimes these updates are comical (usually involving the accident-prone PB), sometimes they talk about battles with goblins, or troubles with shipping and tracking addresses. Invariably, there will also be some sort of illustration to accompany the story.

This edition contains full-color reproductions of the letters and drawings in addition to typed versions (in varying typefaces so you can identify who is writing the letter).

The Art

I’m so glad this edition has full-color reproductions of the illustrations—the letters, too, which almost count as art. On the whole, it’s very similar to Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien stylistically, which is is be expected. I bet his kids were thrilled to get this kind of thing from Father Christmas every year.

The Tolkien Estate’s website has several samples from this book to take a gander at. My favorites aren’t here, so, you’re going to have to track down copy yourself to see the best. But the samples are representative.

A Personal Observation

I was—and am—such a lazy and unimaginative father. Seriously—multiple letters, ornately illustrated, written in 1-3 distinctive handwriting, every year? I never came near that—not a bit. Never mind the content, full of imagination and whimsy—just the dedicated work that went into these letters.

Tolkien was something else…

So, what did I think about Letters from Father Christmas?

I loved this depiction of Santa—he’s more in the mold of the Kurt Russel/Dresden Files/Viking-ish Santa than the Clement Moore, Miracle on 34th Street, Rankin-Bass mold. Which fits with Tolkien’s interests, as I understand them. But in addition to being a Warrior Santa, he’s focused on his mission of spreading joy and presents—and is always expressing his affection for the children he’s writing to.

I enjoyed his stories about the battles and troubles he’d had that year. I wasn’t always into the Polar Bear mishaps, it seemed like picking on him to me. But I can see where kids would have fun with it.

One of the best parts for me was the way that Father Christmas talked to Priscilla about the difficulties in England in the 1940s—honestly (and age-appropriate) but filled with hope.

I can easily see this becoming a tradition to read with the Grandcritter and any siblings/cousins that might pop up. I also would enjoy revisiting this collection myself, I should add. I can also see better parents than me using this as inspiration for their own traditions.

If you haven’t tried this yet, I recommend it—for Tolkien fans or Santa/Father Christmas alike.