Hobbit lovers will enjoy decoding the names of his bears (Finnish), the postscript of his secretary (Elvish), the Goblin alphabet given in the appendix, and the cave drawing The Father Christmas of these letters is a linguist, an archeologist and a painter. If he is a benign deity whose magic is strongest in winter, then his Greenīrother is surely the lord of the summer, for whom fires are lit on Midsummer's Eve. We have the sun, not the Son, to thank for his coming. Look for Father Christmas far from Christendom, warming his hands at the bonfires he lights to celebrate the winter solstice. 'Well, my dear, there is lots more I should like to say-about my Green Brother, and my father, old Grandfather Yule, and why we were both called Nicholas after the Saint.' Nobody, I think, knows more about elves than Tolkien, who never confuses Father Christmas with that old moralist, Santa Claus. Anyway he was nosing around the ruins this morning soon after breakfast (he hides things to eat there) and turned on all the Northern Lights for two years in one go.'

The North Polar Bear knew he must never, never touch it. The tap turning on the Aurora Borealis fireworks is still in the cellar of my old house. It turned the North Pole BLACK and shook all the stars out of place. 'It was the biggest bang in the world, and the most monstrous firework there ever has been. The mischief of a magical family unsettles Nature herself: His servants misbehave, his North Polar Bear must be nursed through whooping cough,Īnd there are Elves to entertain and Goblins to vanquish. Of his house, his sleigh gliding over Oxford ('Your house is just about where the three little black points stick up out of the shadows at the right'), and the misadventures that make these letters such lively reading.įather Christmas plays den father to an extended family of elves, snow boys and polar bears, but his magic fails to protect him from the crises that plague large families. 'If John can't read my old shaky writing (1925 years old) he must get his father to.' Fortunately age does not prevent the writer from sending richly detailed paintings The facsimilies included show a handwriting that is shaky but elegant. Letters' Tolkien's daughter-in-law, Baillie Tolkien, collects and edits them for our enjoyment. The first arrived in 1920 when Tolkien's oldest son was 3, and they continued to arrive for 20 years thereafter. They received a letter from Father Christmas every year. I really wanted, and never got, was an answer from the mysterious giver. As foretold by my parents, the presents I asked for arrived.

The first letter I ever wrote went not to a friend but a stranger who, I was told, dropped down people's chimneys on Christmas eve and left presents like an eccentric millionaire.

The father christmas letters tolkien