Βιβλίο ιδανικό για να διαβαστεί την παραμονή των Χριστουγέννων απο μικρά ή και όχι τόσο μικρά παιδιά .Εγώ πάντως το απόλαυσα.

What a delightful book. Tolkien took time every year, not only to write a letter to his Children as Father Christmas, but to decorate the letter, draw Pictures and take special care with the lettering (in different colors), using different handwriting styles for Father Christmas, the Polar Bear and the Elf Illbereth. The stories are funny, but even hard to read as they were on a Kindle the letters themselves were gorgeous and fun to look at. He must have spent hours each December concocting and creating them with loving care.

Second “reading”:

I listened to an audiobook version, which was nice, except for the musical interludes. They weren’t bad per se, but very repetitive and too long. About 75% of them were the same tune (Joy to the World) and the rest split between two other tunes. The narrators were very good and I enjoyed the reading of the letters.

This book is really infinitely better in print, preferably on actual paper with the wonderful drawings Tolkien included in the letters. It’s lovely to listen to it and look at the book at the same time.

YES I probably should have read this around Christmas time HOWEVER a frosty morning is just as good

:)

3.5 When I first started reading this I thought what a fantastic idea, one I wish I has thought of when my children were young. Soon though I was caught up in the letters, waiting for the further adventures of polar bear and the cubs, the goblins and the old Ancient bear as well as the happenings on the North Pole. We can tell as the children age and quit believing in Santa as well as insights to what is happening in the rest of the world. Loved the colored pictures too.

Clever, clever, Tolkien. Lucky, lucky children.

Conoscevo questo libro? No, l’ho scoperto grazie ai vostri post. Conoscevo questo scrittore? Si, ma mai letto! Mi sono innamorata di questo libro? SI SI
Lettere da Babbo Natale è un libro breve ma intenso che raccoglie tante lettere scritte da Babbo Natale (nonché lo stesso scrittore) mandate ai figli. Ogni dicembre i tre figli di Tolkien ricevono puntualmente una letterina in cui Babbo Natale si confida, descrive l’anno passato, il Natale imminente e le sue avventure con tanti aiutanti tra cui l’Orso Bianco del Nord, gli Elfi della neve, gli Gnomi Rossi, gli Uomini-Neve, Elfo Ilbereth, Paksu e Valkotukka.
Un libro che raccoglie tante lettere a partire dal 1920 dal figlio maggiore, all’ultima lettera del 1943 rivolta all’ultima figlia di Tolkien. Ogni letterina presente nel libro è accompagnata dalla lettera vera e propria e da tantissime illustrazioni meravigliose, disegni che riempiono il cuore.
Ripeto, non conoscevo questo titolo e averlo scoperto mi rende felicissima. Trovo che sia davvero un libro particolare e che la scelta dello scrittore sia stata davvero un’azione super bella: non è da tutti diventare Babbo Natale per i propri figli e renderli così felici in questo periodo magico. Per questo penso che sia un libro originale e magnifico, adatto sia ai più piccoli che ai più grandi. Un libro da leggere sia come libro della buonanotte per i più piccini o come libro di piacere per i più grandi. Perché una cosa è certa: anche se si è il Grinch, questo libro non può non far innamorare del Natale.
Un libro emozionante che potrebbe diventare anche un calendario dell’avvento: una letterina al giorno per immergersi nella totale magia del natale e immergersi nelle mille avventure di Babbo Nicola Natale.

This was adorable! Will definitely be passing along to my own children some day.

Even though the audiobook was well done, I’m not sure I could recommend considering they played the SAME song about 50 times.

Quite charming, particularly the wonderful illustrations and photos of the original beautiful handwriting. These are the Christmas letters and stories that Tolkien wrote to his four children - John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla - over the course of twenty Christmases.

Over the years the stories become more intricate and Father Christmas and Polar Bear evolve into Gandalf like fighters of goblins - whose forces rise alongside Nazism. For Tolkien fans.

Estas cartas son una preciosidad. La esposa de Cristopher Tolkien , Baillie, recopila aquí las cartas que el mismo JRR Tolkien escribió firmando como Padre Navidad a sus 4 hijos por más de 20 años, desde 1920 hasta 1943, cuando ya su hija menor, Priscilla, alcanza los catorce años.



(Tolkien y sus hijos)

Algunos son mensajitos, otros son pequeños relatos de la vida en el Polo Norte con el Oso Polar haciendo travesuras, y a veces hay aventuras.

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Y entre medio, tejidos hay mensajes a sus hijos en los años de guerra acerca de como los niños en otros lados carecen de cosas, y acerca de como la oscuridad se cierne sobre el mundo pero es repelida como los trasgos.

«Supongo que recordarás que hace unos años tuvimos problemas con los trasgos y que pensábamos que todo estaba arreglado. Bueno, pues este otoño volvieron a la carga, y peor
que en los últimos siglos. Hemos librado varias batallas, y durante unos días mi casa estuvo sitiada. En noviembre empezó a parecer plausible que la invadieran y se llevaran mis bienes, de modo que todos los Calcetines de Navidad del mundo se iban a quedar vacíos.»


Llama la atención aqui como algo del Tolkienverso asoma con trompetas y cuevas y como se espera que los enemigos vuelvan.

En el libro hay algunas reproducciones de sobres con direcciones, de las cartas y dibujos, de la letra temblorosa y la tremenda imaginación que ya cualquiera quisiera que su padre le hubiese hecho ese detalle .

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Recomendable a cualquier edad.

Не думала, що можна захоплюватися Толкіном ще більше, ніж я змалку, але ця книжка довела, що можна :) Це просто безмежна любов та ніжність. У кожному слові та малюнку.

Beautiful illustrations and letters from Father Christmas to Tolkien's children. Tolkien may have helped Father Christmas with this, and if he did he did a really good job. Not often is someone good at writing and illustrating combined.

I love the illustration of the northern lights on the cover. I've wanted to get this copy for some time now and saw it in our favourite second hand book shop, lit up at night on the way to a christmas tree festival. Lovely find.

Oh, das war die perfekte Vorweihnachtslektüre!

Zwischen 1920 und 1943 schrieb J.R.R. Tolkien jedes Jahr einen Brief von Father Christmas an seine Kinder, erstmals, als der älteste Sohn gerade das Lesen lernte, letztmals, als seine jüngste Tochter 15 Jahre alt wurde. Die Briefe sind handgeschrieben und jedes Jahr sehr liebevoll gestaltet. In ihnen erzählt der am Nordpol lebende Father Christmas von seinen Vorbereitungen für das Weihnachtsfest, von Abenteuern mit seinen Freunden, von Freud und Leid aus dem vergangenen Jahr. Besonders schön fand ich, wie man in den Briefen den Zeitgeist wiedererkennen konnte. Tolkien aka Father Christmas schreibt in den Kriegsjahren darüber, dass viele Menschen ihre Heimat verloren haben, dass die Geschenke dieses Jahr etwas magerer ausfallen, sich die Tolkien-Kinder aber glücklich schätzen können, überhaupt Geschenke zu bekommen – anders als viele andere Kinder in der Kriegszeit.

Das Büchlein, in dem auch alle Briefe im Original abgedruckt sind, ist einfach sehr schön und muggelig zu lesen, die von Tolkien selbst gezeichneten Bilder nicht perfekt, aber so liebevoll, dass sie einfach wunderbar sind. Ich finde es auch sehr nett von der Familie Tolkien, dass sie uns Einblick in diese intimen Familienmomente gibt – hätten sie ja auch nicht machen müssen.

Interessant war für mich die Figur des Father Christmas. Wir in Deutschland sagen ja oft pauschal, dass der Weihnachtsmann zu Werbezwecken von Coca-Cola erfunden wurde. Dass Santa Claus allerdings auf der altenglischen Figur Father Christmas beruht, die Tolkien hier als Alter Ego nutzt, wird selten erwähnt.

Große Empfehlung für Groß und Klein in der Weihnachszeit!

Christmas Letters

Wow, Tolkien's children received letters from Santa from 1920 to 1943, until his youngest daughter was 14. In this collection of letters, Santa shares his adventure at the North Pole with goblins, elves, gnomes, and polar bears. I can't imagine how thrilled his children must have been to get these every year.

Love the spirit of Christmas and father's love.