B|t|B: Book Review -Letters from Father Christmas – J.R.R Tolkien

Title: Letters from Father Christmas
Author: JRR Tolkien
Published: Sept 1976
No. of Pages: 111

Ho-Ho-Ho, Merry Christmas my fellow Bookworms and page turners,

Its that time of year again so seeing as its Christmas eve I thought we would do something a little more wholesome.

Now I am affraid to say I am a little ashamed of myself, I am quite the fan of Tolkien, but until earlier this year I had no idea that this book even existed, so naturally once I learnt of its existance it seemed like the best thing to cover for the holiday season!

The book itself is a collection of Christmas letters that Tolkien draften on behalf of Father Christmas to his children. They are a physical manifestation of Tolkien’s love for his kids, and how much thought and care and love for detail he put into their upbringing shines through his letters to them. His love for storytelling, inventing languages, and drawing pictures, although apparent certainly weave a warm tapastry of wonder for his children to wrap themselves up in.

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However within these warm passages of love there is also a stern voice of reasoning that sometimes makes references to the struggles of people during and after WWII in a very sensitive manner, which I believe was a very good way to educate his children and enaure that Tolkien’s children realize how lucky they were.

“The appalling destruction and misery of this war mount hourly: destruction of what should be (indeed it is) the common wealth of Europe, and the world, if mankind were not so besotted, wealth the loss of which will affect us all, victors or not. Yet people gloat to hear of the endless lines, 40 miles long, of miserable refugees, women and children pouring West, dying on the way. There seems no bowels of mercy or compassion, no imagination, left in this dark diabolic hour. By which I do not mean that it may not all, in the present situation, mainly (not solely) created by Germany, be necessary or inevitable. But why gloat! We were supposed to have reached a stage of civilization in which it might still be necessary to execute a criminal, but not to gloat, or to hang his wife and child by him while the orc-crowd hooted. The destruction of Germany, be it 100 times merited, is one of the most appalling world-catastrophes”

J.R.R Tolkien – Letters from Father Christmas

This was truely heartwarming to read, and the illustrations are brilliant too, it takes you through the years he spent with his family, even after the time where his youngest no longer believes in Santa Claus, that one even managed to tug on my heartstrings a little, maybe im going a bit soft in my old age, but if I am to ever have children of my own, id like to think id create something similar but not quite to the same quality as the master himself, if you are looking for something a little different that is full of the highs and lows of the Christmas season, I strongly suggest you give this a go. I dont think its a book you will forget in a hurry, I know I wont!

Until next time, read more books!