Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would
arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien’s children. Inside
would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful coloured
drawing or some sketches. The letters
were from Father Christmas.
They told wonderful tales of life at the North
Pole: how all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place;
how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the
roof of Father Christmas’s house into the dining-room; how he broke the Moon
into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how there
were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath
the house!
Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note,
and sometimes Ilbereth the Elf would write in his elegant flowing script,
adding yet more life and humour to the stories. No reader, young or old, can fail to be
charmed by the inventiveness and ‘authenticity’ of Tolkien’s Letters from
Father Christmas. Seek out a copy!
George Allen & Unwin (London) 1976
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