The Ritual Master One of the highlights of my holiday season this year are Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas.
Not being a fan of fantasy, neither in literature nor movies, I am not a reader of Tolkien in general, and I admit I’m jumping to conclusions based on the very aggressive Lord of the Rings marketing. So imagine my surprise when I started to read this beautiful edition curated by his daughter of the letters he sent every year to his children, for more than 20 years.
I read the first two letters and said to myself, ok, who was this guy ?
The fact that he kept the magic of Christmas alive for his children, with letters from Father Christmas, from his aid the Polar Bear or from a faithful elf, was enough to make me reconsider my position on the subject of Tolkien.
This is the book I would have loved to have as a child, I can just imagine the pages worn out by years of reading and learning by heart every single letter.
They are kind, very funny, inspiring for both children and adults, and a proof that Santa does not only exist, but is in each and every one of us.
I’m surely going to read it every year for Christmas, as a reminder of my own happy memories of Father Christmas, of our meeting in the flesh when I was 4 and he came on Christmas Eve on his slay, with a nose all red and cold, just like my father’s when he used to come home from work.
So thank you Mr Tolkien, and I’ll see you next year !
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