Kudos, Mr. Tolkien, for helping me spark the holiday season with this piece. I will be adding this to my annual Christmas reading list and wish I had known about it years ago.

Each letter was hand-written by Tolkien in a shaky script to denote Father Christmas's advanced years, but his drawings were utterly superb. Every year, Father Christmas would try and sort out all the world's presents, but Polar Bear and his friends would upset everything whilst having an enormous amount of fun. As the years went by, more and more characters were added and a whole race of Goblins was brought in to wage war against the beautiful splendour of Father Christmas. We have been providing professional Santa’s for many years. From Santa’s for garden centres for a six week period to one Santa for a few hours for a special home Santa visit. They are extremely professional, reliable and understand the real importance of remaining in character for the children (and adults!). They really know how to entertain and engage children and adults alike. Hire Santa, Mrs Claus, Elves and other Christmas Characters

Father Christmas presents a dramatically different modern interpretation of the character. He may physically resemble a stereotypical vision of a jolly Father Christmas, with his large white beard and red suit, but he couldn’t be more different. This Father Christmas is a down-to-earth working man living in a normal house, with the usual tasks of his delivery on Christmas Eve, who hides his warm heart behind a grumpy, dissatisfied exterior. There is no sign of either Mrs. Claus (apart from a hanging wall picture in one scene) or the elves in this apparently solo operation. Living with him are his cat and dog, and two reindeer. While he bumbles and mumbles about his work and life, it is clear he has a deep affection for his animals (he gives his cat and dog presents) and enjoys his work. He comes across as complaining about everything but ultimately loving what he does. We retain your data so we may ensure your booking data is available at the Grotto on the day of your visit and

Activities on offer will include interacting with father Christmas and his busy elves where all the good boys and girls will receive a quality gift John Ronald Reuel Tolkien: writer, artist, scholar, linguist. Known to millions around the world as the author of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien spent most of his life teaching at the University of Oxford where he was a distinguished academic in the fields of Old and Middle English and Old Norse. His creativity, confined to his spare time, found its outlet in fantasy works, stories for children, poetry, illustration and invented languages and alphabets. [email protected] who hold your details for this event you booked and [email protected]. Please note, it may not be possible to delete your data prior to your booking whilst still facilitating your booking. The original letters are reproduced here and thankfully accompanied by a word-for-word transcript, as they are sometimes a little hard to read. We have today heard from Father Christmas, and his Elves that they will be arriving at the Reindeer Centre ‪on the 18th November to spread some much needed Christmas spirit and to meet all the good boys and girls

Christmas Grotto

If you’d like to be as close as possible to Santa Claus Village, the best place to stay is Rovaniemi. Here you have everything you need: an international airport, shops, restaurants, and more. A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas", 1823) attributed to Clement Clarke Moore