Wow! I was in the mood for something old-fashioned and was expecting some mild entertainment, here. Didn't know just how delightful a time I was in for!

What an imaginative, clever, super-cute, and funny collection of letters and drawings. Father Nicholas Christmas, North Polar Bear, and Ilbereth the secretary elf are something else especially when they tag-team the letter-writing. (Well, not that it's always "teaming." Sometimes, Polar Bear's just interrupting.)

I laughed the hardest—so hard I had to pause and set the book aside several times—while reading Father Christmas's delivery of rhymes/poetry where Polar Bear keeps cutting in with criticism. Hilarious!

Even with the harrowing North Pole adventures, the comedy, and the precious sentiments to it all, the collection also has bittersweet aspects. To think of a father making creative explanations through the letters at times when providing his children with Christmas gifts would have been difficult, particularly during the years of a certain war (World War II) that Father Christmas talks about. To watch as the names of the letters' young addressees change over the years: the addressees increasing as the family grows, then decreasing as the children gradually grow out of childhood. Until the letter-writing tradition is down to only the youngest child.

The last letter, which Father Christmas apparently knows will be the last, is especially poignant. Made me smile while it tugged on my entire heart.

Nonetheless, the even greater joy of this family's holiday tradition is that the last letter wasn't the end of it after all. Countless people of different generations all over the world, myself included, are yet getting the chance to enjoy these wonderful messages and pictures from the North Pole. How marvelous is that?

Merry Christmas to all! ( )

A charming and wonderful book, not only a mere collection of letters from Father Christmas to [a:J.R.R. Tolkien|656983|J.R.R. Tolkien|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1434625177p2/656983.jpg]'s kids, but reproducing copies of the original artwork and letters, calligraphic art in themselves. The letters, spanning a time period of 23 years from 1920 to 1943, speaks to Tolkien's dedication and involvement in his kids development.

Each letter gets progressively darker as time goes on, with Father Christmas addressing fewer Tolkien's kids as they get older, the last melancholic letter addressed to Priscilla alone, the youngest. The mood reflects the growing austerity of the war years in Britain, symbolized by the goblin threat in the North Pole, and experienced by Tolkien and his kids alike.

A fun book to read with your kids at any time of the year, but even better while waiting for Santa!
( )

A beautiful book and a worthy slice of Tolkieniana, this volume reproduces letters that the author wrote to his children from Father Christmas. Over the years a repertory of characters – heroic, villainous, amusing – grows around the Christmas depot at the North Pole, and intricate tales are woven about battles between goblins, elves and snow boys. The comic North Polar Bear is a recurring and endearing character. What is most striking is the level of care and attention that Tolkien invested in each letter, writing in many colours in his immaculate Medieval-influenced script. Most years he also includes an elaborate illustration (in the style that will be familiar to all fans of Middle Earth). A treasure trove for fans of Tolkien and Christmas. ( )

I loved the illustrations in this book, both the copies of the letters and the pictures that came with the letters. However, I felt a bit weird reading the letters themselves. These were written to the Tolkien children, and (unlike some books that were written for specific people) I don't think the intent upon writing them was to publish them for others to read. This book felt way too personal, almost like I was intruding on their lives. It was a fun read, but it's not going to become an annual tradition for me. ( )

How did I miss this book as a holiday read? Heartfelt and heart-wrenching, Tolkien writes letters to his children as Father Christmas. His stories and illustrations are glorious and gloriously fun. The antics of Polar Bear are ingeniously drawn and told. If a lover of the TOY STORY movies, you will experience the wonderment and inevitable sadness as the children grow up. This will now be an annual read. ( )