#Letters from Father Christmas

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viscid waspBOT
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I’m actually really hyped for this!! ehhe

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I read it the day before this starteddd kekCry here's my thoughts:
Such a beautiful book, such an amazing idea and the characters are so great, I love the great polar bear of the north, the letters are visually stunning, and I love all of Tolkien's details like the shaky handwriting

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I'm going to be wrapping gifts today and then I'm going to read this afterwards as a reward for all my efforts 🎅 🎄 ☃️

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Starting this!

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1920-1924
||The pictures to start are pretty! I love rhat the house is more similar to an igloo than a more traditional house.
The shaky handwriting is a great touch. (My parents did the same when they were writing as Santa Claus. I wonder if that's just something everyone thinks to do to disguise their writing?)
I like that he writes a few short letters as well to keep up communication but not have to have a full length one every year.||

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1925
||I love the Great Polar Bear! Such a cute addition.||

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1926-1928
||Polar Bear seems to get up to some mischief over the years. I love the tales of what he has done and that he also includes asides in the letters as well.||

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1929
||Aww. Polar Bear writes his own letter to the children. So cute. Love that he has a different font style and the creativity to give it a name (Arktik) is adorable.||

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1930-1931
||I find it interesting that Father Christmas responds to letters even months before Christmas! It is so interactive of him. I think this is neat.||

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1932
||These cave drawings are really cool. Tolkien doing this is just amazing.||

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1933-1936
||Calling it out now, but works earlier too: the additional details on the envelopes is so good! Love that some are delivered by elf express and others look like they go through the actual post.||

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1938
||The switch to a poem instead of the standard format was unexpected. But, I like that it stays interesting.||

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1940
||I think this picture of Polar Bear and the penguins is my favorite.||

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1941-1943
||The writing of Father Christmas to the children is really interesting over the years. I also like that he recognizes that they will one day stop as they get older.||

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Finished!
This was a quick read and really neat. I loved the pictures throughout and think that this is such a neat idea. ||It's more than just a quick one off letter every year, you get to see some of the things that are happening at the North Pole and get introduced to other characters that live there and help out. So glad I read this!||

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Intro - I just love the premise of this so much and it makes me so happy that these have survived to be preserved and shared with everyone who appreciates the Tolkien Legacy. I wonder how much of Middle-Earth will creep into this if anything. I’m reading the ebook on my Chromebook to see all the illustrations in color

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1920 || Oh the labeling on the illustrations is so sweet! Man, his handwriting is so iconic atp. Like you could see anything written by him and know it was his. I can’t think of anyone else with historic handwriting. Also, we already have this sweet personal tone of a penpal friendship with Santa. One year when I took my kids to see Santa at the mall, there was an excellent actor who looked up all the kids in a very special ledger-like book and noted what they had done well and what they could “work on” for next year to be even nicer. (pretty sure one of them was told to be better about brushing her teeth LOL) My kids were so stunned, even the 8 year old|||

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1923 ||Oops. We’ve jumped a few years, and they’ve moved house. Oh, Santa is older than Jesus Lmao and Great-Grandfather Tolkien and so cold and shaky. John’s a big brother now! I wonder if Michael got his own letter? Gotta love that Santa has a preference of blocks. I wonder if that’s because JRR couldn’t find the kind that John had requested? Sometimes Santa has to know best fr. I used to lock my kids into their Santa request as early as I could to have enough time to hunt it down||

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1924 || Oh wow! They moved again! Poor Mama Tolkien. Wait the envelope is to Michael but the letter is addressed to John? Oh there are 2 letters lol But Santa is too busy, maybe helping to move house? ||

1925 || Oh the address has expanded, nice. Omg. that writing is too small. No way I’m making that out. Oh, Santa’s House has a name. So very proper. OH NO! The North Pole crashed through his roof! North Polar Bear needs an OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Admin.) form for his broken leg. Smh. Wait, why is Father Christmas younger now than he was? When is Michael going to learn to read and write? Betcha by next December. Also NPB is getting in on the letter writing action||

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1926 ||NOOO They moved AGAIN! OOOOF chaos at the Almost North Pole! I feel badly for the reindeer; sudden fireworks are startling fr. Aw they added to the personnel with getting Snow Man to address the letters lmao. I love the Aurora Borealis and I wish I could see it regularly. It would be worth the longer winters ||

1927 || aw, John is growing up. The bickering between Santa and NPB is hilarious and on point. I like how our Snow Man gardener is almost a precursor to Frosty the Snowman. I’m expecting Jack Frost to show up eventually. Also, apparently this Santa only visits Europe. Also also... dragons? nice, but we're still a few years away from his beginning to write The Hobbit||

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1928 || oooh special delivery lol Ok. falling down the stairs hits a bit too close to Chez Lemondrop 2025. Poor NPB! I hope he recovered quickly. Nice word play there Santa. Gotta love the “hey don’t forget to share with your brothers” moment there and I hope John liked his paints too. Ok the various postal crises are making this effort feel more realistic and I love it. It’s way better than having a letter show up regularly each year. GJ Papa Tolkien||

1929 || oh wow, they’re getting separate letters now. And Tolkien is flexing his language and rune writing I see. Also, nice touch adding how he likes Christopher’s penmanship too, acknowledging that he’s read their letters.

I see Santa has expanded the personnel again to Snow-Elves which is good since NPB is galavanting around on holiday and getting hurt, but back in time to help organize the lists. Is Santa whining about visiting around the world? Dude. You have one job.||

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1930 || by messenger? Seems kinda posh for Santa? Lol Much ado at the North Pole again. Why didn’t he go look for NPB when he was lost? I would have been so worried about it if I was one of these kids! Also lumpy ice for presents would definitely melt all over. Hmmmm. Chris is scared of Santa? I was terrified of Santa as a young child, so I understand. My aunt and uncle brought me to one of these touristy “Santa’s Village” type places when I was about 5 to try to help me overcome my fear. The toyshop was cool and I loved petting the reindeer, but at the end, you had to go through this tiny door (for kids only) to see Santa, sit on his lap and then your adults would meet you afterward. I flatly refused to go in and had a total panic meltdown. Finally, they handed me a candy cane through the door, and sent me around the side. Core memory||

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1931 || I wonder how often the kids wrote back to Santa? Seems like it’s quite the correspondence! Uh oh, more polar bear shenanigans! Ik about the “crackers” but they must have a tradition for fireworks and sparklers at Christmas in the UK. Who would travel by airplane when you could travel by magic reindeer? I want to know more about this Green Brother and Grandfather Yule||

1932 || John must be away at boarding school? Also… these letters are getting long! Poor Priscilla having to keep up with her older brothers’ attention spans lol Wow. That was quite the story, and I see he’s still sneaking in his made up languages. Idk how I feel about Santa saying something was “before his time” since in my mythology he’s eternal, but it does make him more personable I guess. I think this drawing of the sleigh over Oxford is my most favorite so far||

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1933 || oooh, nice teasing about more Problems with Goblins. Idk about all this ongoing strife with the goblins at the North Pole, but it definitely makes for quite the story. I kinda want one of the boys to have received the doll meant for their little sister.

I used to make up a story every year playing with my mother’s Christmas decorations. She had a set of identical 3D Santa candles, and I always pretended that 1 was the Evil Twin who was always plotting against the Real Santa. There was an “Elf on the Shelf” that was the hero every year who had to rescue Santa with the help of the Magic Snowman (who was like the Knower of All Things), a silver bird that he flew around with and his best friend the Tinsel Angel. Often Santa was imprisoned in the manger scene with baby Jesus. It was very elaborate and it drove my mother crazy because I always moved everything around from where she wanted things to be. Sorry, not sorry mom||

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Oops. I missed posting a whole section

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1934 || Oh looks like MIchael is gone to school now too. Polar bear cubs are incurably mischievous and I kinda love that they continue to wreak havoc at the North Pole. I really like this drawing of the tree too||

1935 ||This year’s feels anticlimactic after previous years; but 1935 was probably a rough year all over||

1936 || The “England Packing Room” getting soaked from overflowing bath water is pretty hilarious||

1937 ||Ooooh Santa is delegating more to this elf who is certainly from Middle Earth lol I wonder what the kids thought of him saying he was going to send “Hobbits” since that was their story far before it was ever published into 2nd editions. NPB still doesn’t know how to spell, which is pretty endearing||

1938 ||aw we’re just getting a “Dear Priscilla” now. Why is that so sad? 18 years of letters is such a wonderful tradition. Ok, he’s really ramping up with the poetry; I’m guessing that Priscilla was a fan? I like how he’s playing with the rhyming tho, and I’m sure it made her giggle. The bickering continues to be pretty funny||

1939 || ooof. I wondered if the war would be mentioned. The trees do look like umbrellas lol||

1940 || Ok. the penguins coming to help cuz they heard that the citizens of the North Pole were endangered is just so poignant and I love the drawing of them dancing together! I imagine Priscilla would have known several evacuees from London to Oxfordshire||

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Sorry

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1941 || Having the Goblin War start up again and having all these shortages while she’s experiencing actual wartime seems… relatable? I’m glad that the NPB continues to hold on to the magic tho and is looking out for her Bingo Bear. Sucks that she couldn’t get the book she wanted ||

1942 || “cellars so full of empty places” is heartbreaking, but lyrical. Seems like even Priscilla is growing up and getting too old for sending letters||

1943 || Aw, he knew this would be the last one.

I would have loved to have some kind of message in here from John, Michael, Christopher and Priscilla about how it felt to receive all these letters. Did they talk to their friends and wonder why FC only wrote to them personally? When did they discover it was their dad? And was it difficult to keep the secret from the younger siblings to keep the magic alive? How lovely that they survived ||

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There. Fixed

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i am starting this one now 😄

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if i had known that they loved in oxford , i would have gone to see the house

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1929 || i love how things are beng mixed up between father christmas and the bear , which i find adorable ||

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1931 - this has been my fav letter so far 😄

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i finished it 😄

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So excited for this! Starting it today, it's the perfect Christmas book 📖 🎄

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My audiobook only has two chapters (?), so I hope my messages make sense and I'll do my best to keep it spoiler free 🙏

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|| this is so sweet! I love how he tries to bring all these characters to life! Especially Polar Bear feels like such a lovely character! ||

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I went through this so quick btw, I'm already finished!
|| I loved all the little side stories and how he made the kids' Christmastime so very special. The letters were sweet and really told a story, even though they weren't all that long (some longer than others ofc, but not novella-lenght or anything)
Polar bear was my fave 😊
I think it's very special the letters have been preserved so well, I wonder if later generations look at these fondly too (and if they have extra back stories to go with it!) ||
These letters made me wonder if this is something I would like to do for my future children someday. It could really make their holidays extra special. ❄️

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Loving this book so far. Makes me wish one of my parents were writers. I can see myself doing smth similar with my own kids. || I love how it first starts with Father Christmas 1st & then later you have other characters either mentioned or brought in. Mischievous Polar Bear is hilarious. I also like how he the tone changes when the letters discuss the children being "too big" or "too grownup". It kind of makes you sad in a way. I think even after knowing I would've still kept writing to Father Christmas to see what other magical stories would come. I can still pretend. ||

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@dense gate question what do we do if power goes out bc of a snow storm? I know I will complete this book by the end date listed, but not sure if I will have access to internet to let you know. A snow storm is coming and we've been forewarned that outages and loss of heat could take place, towers and trees would fall, etc. The local govt did everything they could in regards to preventative maintenance, but I live in an area that is considered low priority. This means we are the last to get anything back up like internet, power, etc. Please advise thanks 😊

dense gate
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Been squeezing this one in, so time to share some! DeesPeek

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1920: ||That shaky handwriting is so smart tbh! Like Father Christmas is just too cold!||

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1923: ||This seems like a great way for Tolkien to make his preference known regarding toys haha! Maybe he couldn't find the specific ones that were requested? peepoGiggles ||

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1924: ||Too busy for a long letter, ahh. Cause of the moving?||

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1925: ||The North Polar Bear, interesting character! Poor thing broke his leg 🙈
Also very interesting Father Christmas aged backwards since 1923 😂
Encouraging Michael through this letter to learn how to read!||

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1926: LOTR referenced||The most monstrous firework.. why does this immediately make me think of Gandalf?
A new character, The Snow Man, who is also the gardener.. (Samwise??)||

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1927: ||The banter between Father Christmas and the Polar Bear! 😂
And we meet a new character again: The Man in the Moon.
The kids get a sneaky little lesson about Iceland!||

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1928: ||Oh dear, what a clumsy bear, lol, always something happening with him..
Another sneaky lesson.. please share kids!||

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1929: ||Looks like Tolkien is starting to play with inventing a new language here in the Polar Bear's letter 👀 ||

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1930: ||Oh lol, so the Snow Man isn't an actual snowman haha.
Tolkien throws a little history about Santa in here||

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1931: ||Lmao, the Polar bear's nephews are exactly as mischievous as their uncle peepoGiggle
Is he telling John here he's getting too old to put up his stocking?||

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1932: LOTR referenced ||Polar Bear lost in goblin caves, oh dear! monkaStop (Are those like Tolkien's future Orcs?)
That's a nice little lesson on giving to poor people.
Oh yes, he's for sure telling John he's too old for presents now!||

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1933: ||I wonder if this goblin attack is referring to other things happening in the real world in 1933. In Germany to be exact.. Or can this be a coincidence? 👀 ||

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1934: ||Lol, those trolling polar bear cubs 😂
I really love those drawings btw||

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1935: ||Oh yeah I really do believe the 'goblins' could also stand for real life threats (nazis) 👀 ||

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1936: ||Lol, Polar Bear is back to ruining the packages! Could this be an excuse from Tolkien, cause he didn't get as many presents this year?||

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1937: ||Less letters from the kids, are they getting too old?
Elvish alphabet! mentioned 👀
Oh yes of course, this is the year 'The Hobbit' was released!
Polar Bear's comments on the elf 😂 ||

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1938: ||Only one of the kids left to write too omg ||

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1939: ||Very short letter.. I bet the war is making things all different now.||

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1940: ||Seeing penguins and polar bears on the same Pole, how about that, haha! Maybe it shows how people in Europe are also out of place, during the war?||

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1941: ||Here's a little lesson about the consequences of the war.. (lots of people who lost their homes, are wandering through Europe and presents that are unavailable)
The goblins are back!||

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1942: ||No letter from Priscilla anymore either? Soon too old I assume pepeSoodge ||

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1943: ||Yep she's basically told she's too old now blobGiggle
And that's where the letters end!||

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Finished! ||This was so cute! It's fun to see how family grew and also how the kids grew older and got too old for the letters. I wonder if they knew it was their father writing them back then!
Interesting to see how Tolkien used the letters to teach his kids all kinds of things. Little life lessons, but also history or what was going on in the world at the time.
So fun how the story developed, how more and more characters were introduced throughout the years! The shenanigans from Polar Bear especially were really fun, aswell as the banter between him and Father Christmas!
There's even little elements we can recognize from Tolkien's later stories, this is probably (partially) how some things came to be and that's fun to see. 😊 ||

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Finished the book. Not what I envisioned. At the beginning of the book it was fantastically imaginative. But as the book went on it became rather grim. I think it was bc some of the time periods covered were during the depression and the Second World War. ||I am glad that there are discussions with the children about how fortunate and privilege they were not to suffer as others did. Father Christmas is always reminding the children that there are others in the world with no food to eat and no home. Or that they live far from home because of being displaced. I think Tolkien was trying to find a balance for his children. He was trying to provide them with some hope that a better tomorrow would come despite all that was happening in the world. I also think Tolkien was trying to tap into his inner child in order to cope with what was happening in the world. It made me sad when the last letter mentions, "After this I shall have to say "goodbye" more or less: I mean I shall not forget you." I don't know why this made me cry. It touched me on so many levels. Saying goodbye bc someone has grown up, or saying goodbye bc war has taken its toll, or saying goodbye bc it's just time to say goodbye bc we all havw those moments in our lives when it's time for another chapter in our lives and in order to flip the pages we must say goodbye to the last page in order to do so. Even tho this book makes fun of their lack of rhyming in their poetry doesn't mean that there wasn't any poetry hidden in this book. I love how he made up another language and alphabet for the goblins too. This book pulled at my heart strings. This is the first time I have ever thought I never want to see where Santa lives. I don't want to go to the North Pole and I definitely appreciate all the work that goes into Christmas. || I think this book helped me to see another side of things. Xmas isn't always so great but if we just focus on the small moments even in the worst of times then we can still find beauty.

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I would add to those around the world who may be having such a hard time , whether you are experiencing war, or just feeling alone, never give in to the darkness and always hang on to the light even if it's just a sliver. There is still hope and I pray and hope that one day everyone will have such a wonderful Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate). May peace be with you all and may you all have a year full of blessings and love.

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I love what you said about the poetry

viscid waspBOT
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Hi everyone!! This BR has ended, thank you so much for joining us in this little bonus event ❤️ I’ll be tallying the finished readers and handing out points this week. ✍️☝️

viscid waspBOT
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thanks for adding it into the event!

shadow valve