In this spirit of the season, I am rereading Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien. If anyone needs gift ideas for Tolkien fans in their life, they’ll appreciate this. It’s a beautiful book full of handwritten letters and illustrations all done by Tolkien. For more than twenty years, he wrote individualized letters to his children as Father Christmas and the letters give readers some wonderful insight into Tolkien’s family life. As a historical document it holds up well; the letters ran from 1920-1943 and the buildup to World War II is an underlying thread. As a work of art it is gorgeous. I consider myself a Tolkien fan and never knew how well he could draw. The letters are imaginative describing and entire North Pole mythology with memorable characters and dastardly goblins. Finally, as a piece of parenting literature it is a great blueprint for parents who would like to send letters to their own children.
Most Tolkien scholars and fans naturally focus on his mainstream Legendarium work. However The Tolkien Road Podcast has a few episodes dedicated to his Christmas letters. I recommend watching their videos about it because they dive more deeply into the book than I will and you can see some of the illustrations which should give you even more incentive to get a copy this holiday season.
The Keasy Depot 