Christmas letter abroad: for children in Europe

Keeping an English Christmas alive abroad

In many English-speaking homes, Christmas Eve is the night of anticipation. Stockings are hung up, often at the end of the bed or by the fireplace, and a mince pie and something to drink are left out for Father Christmas, with a carrot for the reindeer. The presents are opened on Christmas morning.

Where you live now, the rhythm may be different. In many of the countries around you, presents arrive on the evening of 24 December, sometimes brought by the Christkind or Ježíšek rather than by a man in a red coat, and St Nicholas visits in early December. Children at local schools and nurseries pick all of this up quickly, which is lovely, but it can make your own traditions feel like the odd ones out.

There is no need to choose. Plenty of families enjoy St Nicholas on the 6th, a festive evening on the 24th and stockings on the 25th. A letter from Father Christmas is a small, concrete reminder that your family's customs belong in the picture too.

A letter in your child's home language

Children who spend their days speaking German, French or Dutch at school sometimes start to treat English as the language of home only. A letter that arrives in the post, addressed to them and written in English, shows them that their home language has its own place in the wider world, and in Christmas especially.

Our letters can be written in English, German, Czech, Ukrainian or Russian. In English, the letter is signed by Father Christmas unless you choose Santa, and you can type your own signature if your family uses a different name. You read the draft and can change every sentence, so the words and spelling sound like the Christmas your child knows.

Bilingual families

If two languages are spoken at home, there are a few ways to approach it. Some parents choose the language the bedtime stories are in, because that is the language of cosy, imaginative moments. Others pick the language of the parent whose traditions the letter is closest to.

With siblings, you might order one letter in each language, perhaps English for the older child who reads it alone and German or Czech for the younger one who is used to hearing stories in that language. There is no right answer. The best choice is usually the one your child will understand and enjoy most when they open the envelope.

Mixing the two traditions in the letter

A personal letter can mention the place your child actually lives. Father Christmas might know about the Christmas market they visited, the snow in the mountains or the new friend from their class. Details like these show children that their life in two cultures is something special, not something to explain.

What we leave out is the same wherever you live: the letter never promises a particular present, never makes good behaviour a condition and never suggests that anyone is watching. It is warm and specific, and it is about your child.

Timing and postage

When you order, you pick a dispatch day in a calendar. This is the day we post the letter, not the day it arrives, so leave enough time for the post to deliver it, especially to addresses outside Germany. In November we post on Mondays and Thursdays, and in December on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Dates after 16 December are marked as late, because the letter may arrive after Christmas.

We post only to addresses in Germany, Czechia, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Poland and Switzerland. Postage is free to Germany and Czechia, and the cost for the other countries is shown at checkout. We cannot post to the UK or to any other country, so if you would like a letter for a niece or grandchild in Britain, it would need to go to an address in one of these countries.

The pre-order price is €10.99 instead of €12.99. The letter is printed on good paper and posted in a proper envelope, with an optional wax seal (€2.50) and snow dust (€1.90).