I think this is where the "long stories" begin, slowly but steadily - compared to the earlier letters, this one starts becoming incredibly complex. Maybe "dense" is better word than "long" - there is so much written in a matter of a couple of lines. Note the incredible amount of different characters appearing in a couple of sentences: Snow Elves, the Great Seal (or whatever it is called in the original - and whatever it might be??? I find it probably the most interesting creature in the whole story. Some predecessor to the Watcher in the Water, perhaps?
), and some random Olaf (what purpose does it have there??? It is just so incredibly random remark! I don't have PB's letter there, so maybe something more about those is explained in there; could you satisfy my curiosity?).
The incredible amount of detail in the stories does not stop with the list of characters, but also the descriptions of "how the system works" (=how FC's spells are the strongest during Christmas, how his speed of giving presents is measured and so on). Also, what is it with those numbers? We have the number of how many rockets were set off by PB or how many kids can FC give presents to per minute. Was it just that the kids were learning lots of maths/physics by that time?
Compared to for example the 1927 letter, which basically does not tell about anything happening, I find this one incredibly - yes, let me use the word yet again -
dense.
And one thing I really like about this year's letter are the illustrations. Starting with the hat-wearing PB on the edges, through the picture of him lying on the ground with the detail of his paw bandaged (and I really like his expression) - but the best are two details: the wind going through the window in the bottom picture (I really like these, hmm, what would you call it, anyway, these blue-ish lines representing the wind, if you know what I mean), and then the MAP. The map on the wall on the first picture, which in the later picture is folded by the wind. Good job in any case. But if you look at the map, it is interesting: what do you think does it represent? Is it simply a geographical map representing the northern part of Europe - simply a sort of random map of the part of the world close to FC's home, or is it supposed to show some places where FC is carrying his presents to, i.e. some of his "radius"?
Two things are interesting about the map: first, why just Europe? No relation to Santa Claus? No North America? Not even Greenland, for that matter? (Maybe it all comes just from Tolkien's uncertainity about drawing the typical stereographic map with the pole in the center and other things around it.)
Second, is it just me or is the map white where Russia should be? (Or even part of Finland, in fact.) If it is, why? Is it random? Is it supposed to be the snow cover? Or (in case the map marked the places where FC "works"), is it outside FC's sphere of influence? (In other words: does the reddish-brownish color represent the places he visits, and the rest is blank?) Or is it just random? Personally, I don't find either of the answers very satisfying, but I cannot imagine why Tolkien wouldn't bother to draw a bit of Russia, it is only a couple of pen strokes.