Twelve days of Letters to Santa Day eleven - The Lighthouse Keeper's Christmas

Dear Father Christmas,
I will be at the Grinlings' house on Christmas eve.
They have a chimney.
Your friend, 
George

Dear Father Christmas,

Uncle ways that he would like something for Christmas that's fun to wear.

No boring slippers.

Your friends

Mr Grinling and George

PS Hamish would like another toy mouse

George is the great-nephew of the lighthouse keeper Mr Grinling and he has come to stay. This will be the last Christmas, as lighthouse keeper, for Mr Grinling. On Christmas eve Mr Grinling, George and Hamish row out to the lighthouse. At the end of their busy day a storm whips up and their small dinghy is tossed out into the waves. Mrs Grinling had packed a delicious lunch but what will they eat for their tea? Mrs Grinling packs a new basket (just as she did in the very first book) with cake, pies, sandwiches, and fruit BUT yes, just as we have seen previously, those pesky seagulls attack the basket and everything is either eaten or lost into the sea. Luckily Mr Grinling is able to find a tin of baked beans, some sardines, an old potato and a packet of chocolate biscuits. They are snug and safe inside the lighthouse and everything is okay BUT then George remembers his letter to Santa. He needs to write a new one!

Father Christmas, Father Christmas

We are at the lighthouse tonight. Please ask the reindeer 

to bring the sleigh to the door because there isn't any chimney.

Your friends

George and Mr Grinling and Hamish

They attach this note to the top lighthouse window and Mr Grinling finds two enormous socks that Santa can use as Christmas stockings. 

"They left the socks and a chocolate biscuit by the lighthouse door, then Mr Grinling tucked George back into bed."

Over night it snows, and they wake up to a perfect white world AND stockings full of presents! And later Mrs Grinling sends their Christmas dinner over in the basket - but will those pesky seagulls attack the food again? Oh and Mrs Grinling also finds a way to reach the lighthouse and she has a special card for Mr Grinling from all the people of the village. A perfect happy ending.

Bookseller blurb: Once there was a lighthouse keeper called Mr Grinling. At night time he lived in a small white cottage perched high on the cliffs, and in the daytime he rowed out to his lighthouse to clean and polish the light. Mr and Mrs Grinling are looking forward to an extra-special Christmas with their great-nephew, George. But on Christmas Eve, Mr Grinling and George get stranded in the middle of a storm! Can Mrs Grinling reach them in time for Christmas dinner?

The Lighthouse Keeper's Christmas was published in 2002. The paperback edition was released in 2014 - that's the good news. It is still in print (I think) but the online bookseller price is over AUS$25. I was lucky to pick up my copy at a recent charity book sale for just 50 cents and it is in mint condition.

I have been a fan of the Lighthouse Keeper's book series since the first book was published back in 1977. In one of the schools where I worked as a Teacher-Librarian one class spent the whole term on work inspired by this book and all the sequels and as a result I made this Pinterest and now my friend from Kinderbookswitheverything adds books too. My love of lighthouses does go back even further than 1977 though - back to 1968 or 1969 when my family rented a tiny garage which was used by the owners as a make-shift holiday house at Port Macquarie on the New South Wales coast. The address was Lighthouse Road and so as expected there was a glorious lighthouse right the end of the road and this became by regular bike riding expedition and book reading nook nestled under the tower of the lighthouse. 

Christmas and lighthouses - a perfect combination. Here are a couple of other Christmas books set in Lighthouses!

It's day eleven of my twelve days of Christmas letters to Santa - I wonder which book will appear tomorrow - actually there might be a Christmas surprise - TWO books!