MIDDLE-EARTH TIMELINE
Every December from 1920 to 1943, Tolkien's children received a letter from Father Christmas, in shaky handwriting and with drawings of life at the North Pole. They told of the clumsy North Polar Bear, of goblins attacking from their caves, of elves and snowmen, and of the yearly struggle to get the presents delivered in time.
The letters were all written and illustrated by Tolkien himself. Baillie Tolkien, Christopher's wife, edited them into a book published by George Allen and Unwin on 2 September 1976, three years to the day after the author's death. Later expanded editions took the title Letters from Father Christmas.
The illustrated letters Tolkien wrote to his children every Christmas as Father Christmas, telling of life at the North Pole.