Contest 22: letters to Father Christmas

Benisse

Benisse

Perelandrian
Staff member
Royal Guard
Greetings fellow Lawn Dancers,
Contest 22 will take place between now and the Great Snow Dance* (10 pm Central time, 1/24/16). Please compose a letter to Father Christmas from the perspective of one of the Narnian creatures or one of the Sons of Adams/Daughters of Eve who visited there. You are not limited as to letter content (requests, regular epistles, or thank yous are equally welcome), and you may choose to set your letter in any period, not just in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe days.

Judging will be based on the faithfulness to the spirit of your chosen character, and on overall content and style. Winners will be announced on Ground Hog's Day (February 2) by the Honorable Chief Woodchuck (Groundhog) himself of the Ettinsmoor Lowlands.
Sincerely, Benisse

p.s. *The Great Snow Dance is a winter celebration on the first full moon of the new year with snow. (c.f. The Silver Chair)
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Here's my entry!

To The So-Called Father Christmas:

I don't see why I should call you "Dear." You never did anything for me. But as for that, no one else treats me as well as I deserve, either. So I'll be generous and give you a chance to make it up to me for not paying me any attention sooner. And I'm not being selfish, because what I want isn't only for myself, it's for the Dwarfs. That is, for MY tribe of Dwarfs. That useless bunch Trumpkin runs with is already pampered enough.

My Dwarf tribe does all the work in Prince Caspian's army, and takes all the risks. Without us, this revolution wouldn't have lasted a day. If you've heard the Talking Mice and the Centaurs telling things differently, don't believe them; they're in collusion together to deny us the credit for being the backbone of the army. So what I'm demanding from you is only fair:

Give Narnia a new government, in which ONLY DWARFS OF MY TRIBE will be allowed to hold any authority. Then you'll see that we're the people who know how to run things.

Impatiently, and I have a RIGHT to be impatient,
Colonel Nikabrik, Hero of the Anti-Miraz Coalition


 
Dear Father Christmas,

First of all, I'd like to thank you very much for my healing cordial and dagger; I have made great use of them especially in saving my brother Edmund, as well as, our dear friend Reepicheep.

Second, as one of the Queens of Narnia, I would also like to thank you for helping to restore the beloved spirits of my fellow Narnians during our golden age. Just before the fall of the White Witch, everyone had hope again upon your arrival and even more so when dear Aslan arrived.

My dear friend Mr. Tumnus asked me to add a little something in my letter on his behalf...He wants to express how grateful he is for you rebuilding his home as his Christmas gift. He is happy you used your magic and made it reappear as if the wolves had never destroyed it. The Beaver's had offered their dam as a place to stay before you rebuilt it, but Mr. Tumnus told me he would not like it there as it smells too much like fish.

My siblings and I have made special visits to Narnia every year for Christmas since our first visit as a family. Mother doesn't know, but the hall closet is a portal to Narnia. We have to be very careful to sneak in while she isn't looking. It's convenient that our winter coats and boots are already stored in the closet, although as my sister Susan has stated before, "He Must Have Known What He Was Doing".

Well, I suppose that's it for now. Edmund is telling me to hurry up as everyone else has finished their letters and they're waiting for me to finish.

I hope to see you again soon. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Lucy
 
Father Krissmuss, source of wisdom, lord of pleasant foods, master of speed, etc., etc.:

As the poets have said: A small gift from the hand of a worthy giver is worth more than ten thousand from the hand of a person of low birth. News of your high heritage and great fame has traveled even into the high court of Tashbaan, and we request your presence at our great Autumn Feast. We trust that you shall not be busy during that time of year, coming as it does before the barbarian feast of Krissmuss in the snowy North. Our captains shall conduct you to the palace in honor, and you need not mistrust our word in this matter, as the barbarians once did during our predecessor’s reign, causing an abominable spillage of barbarian blood. Our reign, unlike that of our predecessor’s, has been one of good relations. In the words of the poets, Peace is a boon unto those with understanding.

At court, we wish to learn many things from you, for learning is the greatest gift we could ever wish from your hand. We hope to know from whence you procure your many objects to enrich our people, and to understand how you travel so far in one day, so that we may lend speed to our captains, who continually have peace within their hearts. O Great and Noble Krissmuss, bequeathe unto us your knowledge and make us wise, for we have a great and wide empire to rule, and we desire to expand it in all ways which are prudent unto a person with a soul of discretion.

The great, the inexorable,
Tisroc Rabadash of Calormen,
The Peacemaker
 
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Love the contest submissions so far...
Because of the discontinuity of access to TDL in December, I am extending the deadline for Father Christmas letters until the full moon, January 24, 2016 to coincide with the Narnian Great Snow Dance celebration this year.

Welcome back everyone to the Dancing Lawn!
 
Writing another one to prime the pump again

Memo to Father Christmas.
From Lord Shift the Reconciler.

It has come to my attention that you are associated with intolerant bigots who hate everyone who is different from them. This is to say that you align yourself with narrow-minded fanatics who maintain that Aslan IS the eternal Deity, and Tash IS NOT.

You should be ashamed of yourself. Don't you know that goodness is DEFINED as the greatest benefit for the greatest number? It follows that the largest population of sapient beings on our planet, the Calormene civilization, deserves to have its own views followed in theological matters.

In keeping with my own superior spiritual enlightenment, I have undertaken to educate the ignorant, primitive Tashophobes of Narnia and by extension Archenland. The Calormenes have shown such loving tolerance as to allow Aslan's name to be mixed with the name of Tash, as "Tashlan," for as long as it takes for the enlightenment to spread northward. Only when reasonableness has had time to work will we take the efficient step of saving everyone's breath by uttering one syllable instead of two. Of course, when shouting the glorious name of Tash, the option of adding "Inexorable" will remain open.

In the name of peace and harmony and unity and love and oneness and my getting more bananas, I appeal to you to join the cause of one world and one family. Exert your influence to persuade rebellious Narnians to stop their hate speech and bring everyone together. This is, after all, what Tashlan wants.
 
An Invitation to the Great Snow Dance 1/24/16

Note:
In celebration of the First Full Moon of the Year with snow cover
You all are cordially invited to the
Night of the Great Snow Dance
Sunday January 24,
on the Dancing Lawn
8 - 10 pm Narnian time (= Central Standard Time)

Dress warmly, and drop in when you can and stay for dancing, refreshments, and general snowplay and merrymaking.

Please bring a warm drink, vegetarian snack or dessert to share.

Also please note: all entries for the Letters to Father Christmas contest are due by the time the last dance is over.

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Thank you all for your Participation and Patience! I have received the results from the judging and will post them 5 pm Pacific time.
blessings, Benisse
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Sorry for the delay in posting the results of the Father Christmas letters contest. Real life (discipleship meeting and company) kept me from getting to the computer till just now :(
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The judges thought the letters were so delightful and that you all did such a great job capturing each character's personality and style, that they wanted to award 3 prizes anyway even though the entries were few. Here are the winners' list:

1st - Glenburne for Rabadash. For your Wonderful epistle you will receive a post card of the Wardrobe that stood for years in the home of C.S. Lewis (it was built by Jack's grandfather).

2nd - Copperfox for Shift and Nikabrik. Your stellar re-creations have earned you a postcard of Pauline Baynes' beautiful map of Narnia.

3rd - Lucy Fan for Lucy (naturally!). For capturing your namesake's sweetness and thoughtfulness, you will receive a Lucy and Aslan trading card as your reward.

I will be PM-contacting each winner by to get a mailing address for prize-sending...
blessings, Benisse

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Wow you guys are very generous for picking all three of us. Thanks very much. :) I responded to your PM Benisse and gave you my address. ;)
 
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