Anyone who really knows me knows I am a book fanatic and I love to write. In fact, at this moment I am drowning in books on my side of the bed and have to walk over stacks and piles that block my path. I would say my weekly shopping addiction is in the form of books and magazines (and why yes the kindle and nook would solve some of the obvious three-dimensional problems and I might one day look into them) I love the feel, smell and handling of a physical book in my hands.

Anyway, I digress. I live with the dichotomy of creating visually artistic work when I'm not writing and writing when I not creating visual art...and you all know I love me some stop-motion!

I bring all of this up, because The New Zealand Book Council has cleverly brought the two together with this phenomenal and very inspiring little ditty- if you have 2 minutes and 11 seconds you need to treat yourself to this:

Produced by Colenso BBDO
Animated by Andersen M Studio

One day I will finish my hub and I's stop-motion...one day...

-Ciao Amarettogirl

A Christmas Gift for the Young Souls in Our Lives

One of my Favorite Things- notice that my heading states 'young souls' not necessarily young people. My husband and I were in our early thirties when we discovered (or rediscovered) this incredible lesser known work by J.R.R. Tolkein (Yes, The Lord of the Rings author) entitled Letters From Father Christmas. In fact, it was December 23rd, 2003 at approx. 2:50pm when we came across a copy of the book in Borders (I found the receipt nestled in between the pages).

Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkein So for today's post (three days away from Christmas) I thought it would be great to share this extraordinary work with you. Tolkein wrote a letter under the guise of Father Christmas every year for his children. It would arrive in the mail with postage implying it had traveled from the North Pole. And if you're thinking well isn't that quaint, think again - these letters were incredible, masterfully created, down to the handwriting and fantastical events/ illustrations and the not-so mundane details of a daily life in the North Pole. If the Polar bear had to write in lieu of Father Christmas the handwriting was practically illegible and he spoke of how difficult it was to hold a writing instrument in a paw, and if it was shaky well you know how cold it is in the North Pole. However, the North Pole was no romanticized heaven here on earth for Tolkein, there were goblins and wars there too and daily trials and tribulations to speak of, from roofs caving in and the adventures of Ilbereth the elf (secretary to Father Christmas).

A publication with pull-out letters Griffin & Sabine StyleVarious Postage Art from the Letters

My husband and I have no children and we fell in love with this publication and the magic of it. What an amazing world we live in that we could share in such a brilliant stroke of genius as these letters.

It all happened like this: one very windy day least 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 and made it 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.

-excerpt from Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkein