Welcome to Litsy!

My #wintergames total is 5,075 points, @StayCurious 🎄📚Between just having moved and being pregnant, I wasn‘t able to participate as much as I was hoping, but I got to read a couple of my very favorite Christmas reads, and it was fun to see other Littens‘ posts 😊 Thank you and @LiseWorks so much for taking the time to host!

#ChristmasChapterChasers #XmasChaCha

For Christmas, Tolkien would write letters to his kids as Father Christmas & other characters. It is really cute, & you can even see early LOTR influences.
For this year's reread, I tried the audiobook, & it was incredible ❤️
#WinterGames2024 #HolidayBookDragons @LiseWorks #WGWordSearch #WinterClearDown #SeasonalMonsterSmash @PuddleJumper #AVeryMerryBingo #AVeryScaryChristmas @Jadams89 #OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew @Andrew65

I really loved reading these letters each day. It's amazing that Tolkien was able to keep it up for so many years for his children. I loved the fun adventures Father Christmas described with his trusty, chaotic North Polar Bear. The drawings were spectacular & magical. I can only imagine the excitement the kids would have each time they got to read a new letter and the story inside
Thanks @Daisey & @JazzFeathers for hosting this #TolkienChristmas

Thank you to @Daisey and @JazzFeathers for hosting #TolkienChristmas again this year! I looked forward to reading my Father Christmas letter each day, and Tolkien‘s drawings & the antics of North Polar Bear were such a joy! This year I bought the Centenary edition of the book instead of relying on a library copy, and I‘m so glad I did (pictured here with the closest I have to NPB). This may become an annual tradition for me! #FellowshipofTolkien

Wes‘ letter from Santa referenced the tagged book this year. #fellowshipoftolkien

#FellowshipOfTolkien

Just finished and lived it as usual.
Always makes me sad that last melancholy letter. Tolkien wrote Christmas letters to his children for more than 20 years! It must have been sad, and kind of hard, stopping.

All the same, this is such a warming book. I'm always happy to read it in this season ☺️

Merry Christmas friends! 🎄
I‘ve sent the beagle out to run & prepped breakfast enchiladas for brunch with family in a few hours. The tree is lit and music playing while I enjoy a few more pages of this book. I won‘t finish until I‘m back home this evening, but I love it as much as ever. I so appreciate how Tolkien weaves a fantastic story while also reminding readers to be aware of hard times for others.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

So charming!
#sundayfunday

I haven‘t been able to participate in #wintergames as much as I hoped so far, but here is my points total for the first two weeks for team #ChristmasChapterChasers :

3,515

I know I‘m posting late, so if my points can‘t be counted, I completely understand! @StayCurious

I‘ve been reading the images of Tolkien‘s handwritten letters alongside the printed text, and several times have discovered that the printed text makes minor changes or omits parts of the original letters! In today‘s letter, there‘s a whole paragraph about Priscilla‘s “Bingos” that is missing from the printed text. So interesting to see the editorial decisions! #TolkienChristmas #FellowshipofTolkien

Apologies to my fellow Tolkien readers. I‘m teaching new classes this year and we‘ve got one more week to wrap up the semester. I‘ve got little time for print reading until this week is over, and I haven‘t even kept up on this short daily read. I hope to catch up once school‘s out Friday, but don‘t expect any posts before then. I hope you‘re enjoying, and I would still love to see your posts this week.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

Finished my my cards for the #holidaycardswap #litsyholidaycardswap. I‘ll be dropping them in the mail tomorrow with the rest of my Christmas cards 🙂

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

Read three years today and caught up on Letters from Father Christmas.

Both the story and the drawings are so lovely.
Every time l read them l imagine how magical it must have been for Tolkien's children to keep this correspondence with Father Christmas 🥰

Enjoying more of my holiday reads by the tree with a cup of tea while I wait for laundry to finish drying. I wish I had discovered Tolkien‘s collection of letters to his children sooner (I discovered it only last year). Such a whimsical, wonderful way he made their Christmas‘ more magical, I‘m sure. And it seems he didn‘t let up once they got older either lol.

My little one woke up sick today 😪 so staying home instead of running errands. Hoping she feels better by her birthday on Tuesday.
While I'm tending her, catching up on my #TolkienChristmas readalong, and other Christmas reads.
@Daisey

Catching up on Letters from Father Christmas this morning with breakfast and laughing about the “Rory Bory Aylis fireworks” and the North Polar Bear‘s antics!

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas #BreakfastWithTolkien #BookAndBreakfast

#FellowshipOfTolkien.#TolkienChristmas

Even in his children's stories Tolkien uses such poetic imagery.

Starting this buddy read of this gorgeously illustrated book & loving letters.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas #BuddyRead

I still have to find a pretty star for the top, but here‘s my first attempt at a book tree! 🎄📚

#ChristmasChapterChasers #XmasChaCha #wintergames
+5 points

It‘s December and time to read this wonderful collection of letters! I was busy traveling Sunday and getting back into the routine of school yesterday, so I‘m just now sitting down to read the first few letters. Reading them again, it‘s interesting how simply they start, but also to note aspects that will stay the same in them for years to come. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as you read!

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

Late as usual, today l star this cutie 🥰

#middlegrademonday
@karisimo
This one's great for ALL ages! I reread it every year. 🎄

#wintergames2024
#holidaybookdragons @StayCurious @LiseWorks
#photochallenge +20 points (10 for photo + 5 for being a book + 5 for post)

We did Letters from Father Christmas last year, but this year I‘m adding Life and Adventures of Santa Claus :)

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

Thanks to @Daisey for the schedule of our traditional Christmas readalong 😁

I hope lots of you will join.
This is such a beautiful, heartwarming book, so perfect for this season.

Come join us! We bought an illustrated copy with the real letters etc and Wes loved doing this last year! #tolkienchristmas #fellowshipoftolkien @Daisey @JazzFeathers

Repost for @Daisey

Both @JazzFeathers and I have been busy and not great readalong hosts so we‘re not starting any Tolkien new reads until next year. However, it‘s become a tradition for us to reread this book each December, and we‘d love to have you join us.

This is the same schedule as last year. Please comment on the original post if you‘d like to be added to the tag list for this book.

Both @JazzFeathers and I have been busy and not great readalong hosts, so we‘re not starting any new Tolkien reads until next year. However, it‘s become a tradition for us to reread this book each December, and we‘d love to have you join us.

This is the same schedule as last year. I‘m tagging my entire Tolkien list today, but please comment if you would like to be on my tag list for this specific book.

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

My grad school essay has been absolutely eating me alive this week and I‘ve just finished three full days at the library in a row 🥺 but I did fit one more Christmas book in for #wintergames and this was maybe my favourite I‘ve ever read! I love Tolkien so much and this was gorgeous! #snowangels

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas

I'm always so sad to finish the Letters from Father Christmas because it's a melancholy ending. During the war, with Tolkien finally giving up on a tradition he kept for over 20 years.

But this is a wonderful book, full of joy (for the most part) and the obvious love of a dad for his children.
It always warms my heart.

So great. The illustrations are beautiful. I imagine this will become a tradition with Wes. Not going to lie the first paragraph of the last letter had me teary and trying not to cry while I read aloud. #fellowshipoftolkien #wintergames

3✨This is a really sweet quick read of letters Tolkien wrote to his children from Father Christmas and the North Polar Bear. It is a little sad because as you read the children stop writing to Santa so you know they are getting older. There are sweet adventures that they have each year which make it more than just responding to the letters Father Christmas would have received. Just a really sweet read. #WinterGames #GingerbreadGems

How did I miss this book as a holiday read? Heartfelt and heart-wrenching, Tolkien writes letters to his children as Father Christmas. His stories and illustrations are glorious and gloriously fun. The antics of Polar Bear are ingeniously drawn and told. If a lover of the TOY STORY movies, you will experience the wonderment and inevitable sadness as the children grow up. This will now be an annual read. Thanks, @Daisy & @JazzFeathers. 💔❤️❤️‍🩹

What a wonderful daily read at Christmas! Thank you @Daisey and @JazzFeathers for picking this for #TolkienChristmas for the #FellowshipofTolkien. It was a delight to check in each day for the further adventures of Father Christmas and North Polar Bear, in their letters to the Tolkien children. The drawings, and the cheeky side comments from NPB were so much fun. ❤️💚🎅🏼🎄🐻‍❄️💚❤️

Such a delightful read to get in the spirit of Christmas! Tolkien wrote letters to his children from Father Christmas & friends for 20 years. You‘ll find some laugh out loud shenanigans happening in the North Pole with polar bears, snowboys, elves, and goblins as well as stunning illustrations! Tolkien‘s daughter-in-law/secretary edited this beautiful book to share with the world. #TolkienChristmas @Daisey Thank you. ❤️

This is one of my favorites to read every December ❤️

#FellowshipofTolkien #TolkienChristmas @Daisey @JazzFeathers

I finished the last couple letters and enjoyed this reread as much as ever, especially the illustrations. I always appreciate Tolkien‘s way of bringing wartime difficulties into these letters for his children, but combined with them growing up, it makes for some very bittersweet last letters.

I hope everyone else is enjoying reading these as well!

#TolkienChristmas #FellowshipOfTolkien #Christmas

I don't know if I will read this again like I reread A Christmas Carol every year, but this is an excellent Christmas book that I'm happy to have finally read. It might have sat on the shelf for another year had it not been for #SnowedIn and #FellowshipofTolkien #TolkienChristmas. It also earned me a couple thousand points for #WinterGames #CandyCaneCrushers!

I kept on top of the #TolkienChristmas buddy read (despite not posting or being super active!)

This was really sweet, but also sad. You could feel how disappointed he was when the kids started growing up and no longer wrote to Father Christmas. The drawings were lovely.
Thanks for putting this on my radar so I could move this up my list @Daisey 🥰

#WinterGames #RestingGrinchFace #DashingDecember
(268 wordsearch words in this one)

1. A Christmas Story
2. All I want for Christmas is a new birthday gift. (My birthday is in July.)🤷🏻‍♀️
3. Tagged! I finished ahead of the #TolkienChristmas schedule. 😀
#wondrouswednesday

I listened to this audiobook for #TolkienChristmas #FellowshipOfTolkien. I enjoyed hearing the voices of the three different letter writers, but I missed out on seeing the artwork in the print version. If there‘s a #BuddyRead of the same book next year I‘ll probably get a print copy.

I‘ve been reading the eBook version of Letters from Father Christmas because that‘s what was first available at my library—but I really wanted to read it in print. Several weeks ago, I put the print version on hold at both local county library systems for which I have a card, hoping one would arrive before Christmas and then I could cancel the hold on whichever was slower. Well. They both arrived today. 😂 #FellowshipofTolkien #TolkienChristmas

The illustrations in this are beautiful! Every night at the end of books wes checks to make sure we‘re reading a “Santa letter.” #fellowshipoftolkien #wintergames

Sunday morning breakfast and reading this weekend‘s letters from Father Christmas. We‘re getting more into the longer story letters, and I love it. These letters introduce the trouble making goblins for the first time, and there are all kinds of illustrations.

#TolkienChristmas #FellowshipOfTolkien #BreakfastWithTolkien #BookAndBreakfast

#FellowshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmas @JazzFeathers

Tolkien's 3rd house from 1930-?.

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#FelloeshipOfTolkien #TolkienChristmast

I'm behind with everything, but I'm keeping up with this.
And I'm loving it 💚
How is everyone faring?

@Daisey @wordslinger42 @BookwormAHN @Riveted_Reader_Melissa @BethM @TheAromaOfBooks @Susanita @Roary47 @TheBookDream @dabbe @Vansa @Chrys @majkia @Fortifiedbybooks @Lizpixie @BarbaraJean @Born.A.Reader @Larkken @Clare-Dragonfly @mabell @Liatrek @tdrosebud @curiouserandcurioser @Desha @slategreyskies

Reading and enjoying a few more of Tolkien‘s Christmas letters tonight! I love the humor that the Polar Bear adds and can‘t help but share some more illustrations.

#TolkienChristmas #FellowshipOfTolkien #Christmas

Karhu is, of course, Finnish for “bear”! 🐻❤️

#FellowshipofTolkien #TolkienChristmas

Here‘s Wes putting his stocking on in prep for St Nick tonight 😂 But what I came here to say is we I forgot to read tonight‘s Santa letter and he made sure we didn‘t go to bed without it being read 😂 #raisingreaders #lotrchapteraday #fellowshipoftolkien

A lovely weekends reading for #20in4 readathon gained a few points for #Wintergames I'm delighted with my physical copy of Tolkien's letters to his children.
Thanks for hosting @Andrew65 @Daisey #FellowshipofTolkein @Catsandbooks for team #Candycanecrushers