Christmas may be six months away, but there’s no wrong time of year to celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien’s Yuletide letters to his four children. As Letters of Note describes, Tolkien wrote a note in festive, quivering handwriting (Santa was 1925 years old, after all), full of tales from the North Pole, and signed it “Father Christmas.” And, perhaps because Lord of the Rings fans have pretty much ensured the publication of everything Tolkien ever jotted down, the entire collection, spanning 20 years, in a book called Letters to Father Chistmas . See one of the missives, featuring a charming comedy of polar-bear errors and some lovely illustrations, after the jump.
If you’re having trouble with “Father Christmas’s” handwriting, click over to Letters of Note for a transcription.