If you could decorate any famous building for Christmas (inside and outside), which building would you choose?
I think it would be fun to decorate a cathedral, so I might choose Notre Dame.
Since so many of my updates have been pretty serious so far, I thought we could lighten the mood today. One of my recent Christmas book finds is Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien wrote a series of letters to his children under the pseudonym of Father Christmas that detail the adventures of Father Christmas and his accident-prone assistant, the Great Polar Bear.
Cliff House, Top of the World, Near the North Pole
Christmas 1925
My dear boys,
I am dreadfully busy this year – it makes my hand more shaky than ever when I think of it – and not very rich; in fact awful things have been happening, and some of the presents have got spoilt, and I haven’t got the North Polar bear to help me, and I have had to move house just before Christmas, so you can imagine what a state everything is in, and you will see why I have a new address, and why I can only write one letter between you both.
It all happened like this: one very windy day last November my hood blew off and went and stuck on the top of the North Pole. I told him not to, but the North Polar Bear climbed up to the thin top to get it down – and he did. The pole broke in the middle and fell on the roof of my house, and the North Polar Bear fell through the hole it made into the dining room with my hood over his nose, and all the snow fell off the roof into the house and melted and put out all the fires and ran down into the cellars, where I was collecting this year’s presents, and the North Polar Bear’s leg got broken.
He is well again now, but I was so cross with him that he says he won’t try to help me again – I expect his temper is hurt, and will be mended by next Christmas.
I send you a picture of the accident and of my new house on the cliffs above the North Pole (with beautiful cellars in the cliffs). If John can’t read my old shaky writing (one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five years old) he must get his father to. When is Michael going to learn to read, and write his own letters to me? Lots of love to you both and Christopher, whose name is rather like mine.
That’s all: Good Bye
Father Christmas
P.S.
Father Christmas was in a great hurry – told me to put in one of his magic wishing crackers. As you pull, wish, and see if it doesn’t come true. Excuse thick writing I have a fat paw. I help Father Christmas with his packing: I live with him I am the
I think it is quite wonderful that Father Christmas and the Great Polar Bear live in Cliff House. I LIVE IN CLIFF HOUSE!!
ReplyDeleteThat story is hillarious.
ReplyDeleteI'd decorate Marsh Chapel :)
ReplyDeleteI'd decorate whatever I could find--with toilet paper!
ReplyDeleteDecorating the Museum of Natural History either here or in Washington DC would be amazing.
ReplyDeleteThank God for the Great (Polar) Bear or we'd have never read that letter.
I'll agree with decorating a cathedral... But I'll choose King's College Chapel.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to decorate Hogwarts. You wouldn't have to bother with strings of lights and little hooks everywhere. The lights float by themselves, and the "active" tree ornaments just do their own thing. I would use the kind of streamers that actually stream through the hallways, and the icicles that really melt, and have lots of flavors. On the outside, the Forbidden Forest would be totally lit up, and the unicorns would be part of the decorating scheme. On the castle, the spire-toppers would be awesome, what with all the massive streamers and the singing, shimmering, colorful angels.
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to decorate a hobbit hole, which would probably mostly involved pulling out the Christmas tobacco and Christmas plates. Maybe I could plant poinsettias on the roof.