Letters from Father Christmas

Product Information

Crossover Cosmology: Father Christmas refers to his own father, Grandfather Yule, who represents the pre-Christian pagan winter solstice festival. He also mentions his 'Green Brother', whom we learn little about, but some people have speculated is the symbol of the summer solstice. Badass Santa: Father Christmas leads his elves into battle against the goblins in the later letters (he writes that the goblins' strength is proportional to the rise of strife due to World War II.) Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: When the North Polar Bear breaks its leg, Father Christmas stops momentarily complaining about his antics, telling the bear is also a big help and hopes he heals soon.

Father Christmas letter templates | Gathered Free printable Father Christmas letter templates | Gathered

Whichever edition finds its way to your home, the Wade Center recommends sharing it with loved ones and having a ready supply of hot cocoa to accompany the reading sessions. We’ll let Father Christmas have the last word: “A merry Christmas to you from North Polar Bear. As soon as they’ve done that, pupils can sit down and have a go at writing their own letters using our range of colourful templates, as well as our handy word mats and other writing aids. This provides a lovely way for children to wind-down at the end of the term, all while encouraging independent writing and thinking. Really 700 Years Old: Father Christmas says he is as old as Christmas itself, giving his age as the year (around 1,930). If you enjoyed seeing the father Christmas letters that your pupils have created, then why not further enhance your lessons with some of our other resources? Let's Get Dangerous!: The North Polar Bear when he fights the goblins, being usually rather hapless and accident-prone.The relationship between ‘Santa Claus’ and ‘Father Christmas’ is one of those fascinating things – sometimes they are treated interchangeably and sometimes not. Here in the Netherlands, for instance, there is a clear distinction between St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas) and Father Christmas (the ‘Kerstman’, ‘Kerst’ being a mediaeval Dutch version of ‘Christ’). In his 1930 Christmas Eve letter, Tolkien’s Father Nicholas Christmas tells he was “called Nicholas after the Saint (whose day is December sixth) who used to give secret presents, sometimes throwing purses of money through the window.”

Letters Sent By Magic Polar Post | Letters Sent By Magic

Father Christmas believes in answering every letter he receives - he's very particular like that. Written on his official notepaper bearing the Christmas coat of arms, Santa delivers all the latest news from the North Pole, weaving details of each child into our personalised letters. Shout-Out: One of the letters (written when Tolkien had started writing The Hobbit) contains an image showing both Smaug (as a cave painting) and Gollum (peeking round the corner of a cave). Author Tract: In one letter, Father Christmas spends some time talking about how much he dislikes cars. This is probably Tolkien's own views shining through; famously he hated cars and shortly after World War II sold off the family car and carried on most of his life by bicycle. Cypher Language: The North Polar Bear invents one based on goblins' cave drawings and sends his own letters to the children in it.Christmas Elves: Kind of, but being as Tolkien was involved, the elves in this universe have a lot in common with their counterparts in his Legendarium. Particularly noteworthy is Father Christmas's secretary Ilbereth, who writes in a distinctive Elvish script. Our Goblins Are Different: The goblins here are also very small, essentially the elves' Evil Counterpart. Between 1920 and 1943, J. R. R. Tolkien wrote a series of letters to his children purportedly from Father Christmas, in which he told them about his life at the North Pole and his helpers and acquaintances - most prominently the good-hearted but accident-prone North Polar Bear.

Letters from Father Christmas by J. R. R. Tolkien | Waterstones

Father Christmas's elf secretary, who often adds notes in the margins of the letters, is named Ilbereth — which should amuse anyone who's read The Lord of the Rings. The content of the letters varied over the years as Father Christmas moved house, had several adventures, and gained more members of his household and the North Pole community. Characters mentioned include Snow-elves, Snow-men, Red Gnomes, Cave-bears, Goblins, and Father Christmas’s personal secretary, an Elf named Ilbereth. One character who maintains a consistent presence in the letters is Father Christmas’s assistant, the North Polar Bear. Some of the most memorable letters include stories of how Polar Bear’s foibles and curiosity often, while trying to be helpful, lead to accidents and disasters. These include causing the North Pole to break and fall on Father Christmas’s home, falling down a staircase with a pile of gifts, letting the bath water overflow, and setting off two years’ worth of northern lights all at once. These accidents sometimes account for deficiencies in the gifts Father Christmas has brought the Tolkien children, and in other cases are meant solely for comedic and dramatic purposes. Polar Bear offers his own commentary with his distinctive angular script in the letter margins, with occasional contradictions of some of Father Christmas’s accounts of how the accidents happened. Polar Bear proves very helpful in later North Pole events, however, when he battles invading Goblins. His nephews, cubs Paksu and Volkotukka, also join Father Christmas’s household in later letters. With the public appetite for more Tolkien writings after his death in 1973, the Letters were collected and published in 1976. An expanded version with more material, re-titled Letters from Father Christmas, was released in 2004. Polar Bears and Penguins: Justified. Father Christmas sends a picture featuring the Polar Bear and penguins dancing, explaining those penguins swam from the southern hemisphere to come to his aid.

Nephewism: The North Polar Bear has two nephews, Paksu and Valkotukka, who come to stay with their uncle and basically never leave. We never hear about their parents. At the end of the activity, why not gather up the father Christmas letters and create an eye-catching display? Featuring beautiful, colourful illustrations, they’d look great as part of a festive classroom wall! What other festive resources like this one do you have available? Gratuitous Foreign Language: The North Polar Bear's two mischievous nephews are named Paksu and Valkotukka, which means "Fat" and "White Hair" in Finnish - but, unfortunately, "tukka" only applies to human hair! NPB himself is revealed to be named Karhu, which is Finnish for "bear".