Father Christmas

A friend of my mother's gave me this when I was very small. I remember most my mother's happiness in reading it to me and because of that it has always been a dear memory to me. I had forgotten about the book when I happened upon it a few years ago and bought it in the hope that one day I would have a child I could share it with. This year, I can't wait to introduce it to my 14 month old daughter even though she is probably too young to appreciate it. My favorite memory in the book is of Father Christmas trying to figure out how to get inside the mobile home. I pondered that for several years! It really made me wonder. If possible, buy the hardback edition, it's a book you will cherish for many years.

This beautiful and comic picture book stands as one of Briggs' finest achievements. A pop song in the nineties asked the famous question "What if God were on of us?" This book answers a different intriguing question - what if Santa Claus were just an ordinary bloke? In his inimitable careful style, Briggs follows Father Christmas through his ordinary routine on December 24th and 25th. Each page is a series of illustrative panels, rather like a comic book, though the artistic style is the same kind of fine color work Briggs used in "The Snowman." Many panels are silent, or else punctuated by our hero's curmudgeonly mutterings ("blooming chimneys!") Father Christmas is rudely awoken by his alarm clock on December 24th, in an ordinary semidetached home in England somewhere (this is a very British book.) He gets up, has breakfast, feeds the dog and cat, gets some presents from storage in the barn, hitches up a few deer, and is off through various kinds of weather to visit various kinds of homes, mildly complaining about his hardships the entire time. The humor of the book's tone grows on the reader as the story proceeds. At last he finishes his rounds at dawn and comes home to a most pleasant Christmas of a warm bath, a good meal, and some holiday brochures. Then we follow him up to bed. I reread this book every Christmas, with equal joy each time. It is funny in a slightly irreverent way, but it still captures the warmth and joy of a Christmas well spent. Kids may enjoy the comic book format of the story, but I think this book can be even better enjoyed by adults who can imbibe its full wit.

I have had this book since it was published in 1973, and never tire of it. Every December, we put it on the coffee table for the Christmas season. It is warm, sentimental, and a brilliant record of British middle-class decor and living patterns. For the ages.

This comic-strip-like book is very British, slightly irreverent, and quite funny. Actually, I think it makes a good Christmas book for adults, but children too can enjoy the warmth and comfort of the many pleasant holiday scenes depicted.

This book shows England's Father Christmas in his annual work on Christmas eve. Father Christmas comes to life in this book as a very human gift giver. This wonderfully illustrated book shows how he lives and the problems he faces each year when making his rounds. A magically Christmas story which has been a family tradition in our house since it was first published.