Magical Christmas Eve Searching for Santa.

On Christmas Eve 2015 at about 8am we took off from Manchester airport – myself, my mum and my two children, Madison who was 12 and Jaxon who was 4. It was an easy flight as we had plenty in a backpack to keep the kids amused. Around three hours later we landed at Enontekio airport in Finnish Lapland. The view was simply breathtaking and the kids were beside themselves with excitement, to tell you the truth so were my mum and I. We boarded the transfer coach and spent the next hour or so driving though the most beautiful snow filled fields, spotting the odd reindeer dotted about here and there amongst the trees until we arrived at our magical snow village destination.

First we were taken into a restaurant to have some lunch which was lovely and definitely welcome into our hungry tummies by now. After this we were taken into the clothing room and given snow suits and boots to wear to do all the daily activities. Then the fun began.

We had so much fun riding a reindeer-pulled sleigh, we slid down hills on toboggans, and we had a go on snow mobiles. Even my four year old had a go, although he couldn't go far except in a circle. He was held by a safety rope but he absolutely was driving the snow mobile by himself - super proud mummy moment. Then we went to have a hot chocolate to warm up a little and stand by one of the log fires that were burning around.

After we had warmed up a little it was on to more activities and my personal favourite was the husky dog sled ride - they go pretty fast. I kept having sneaky glances at my kids and their faces were smiling and laughing so much. This was our last activity before we went off in the forest on a sled pulled by a snowmobile in search of the real Santa. We rode for what seemed like quite a few minutes until a clearing broke and an elf named Snowflake appeared to say Santa had been waiting for us. She stood at the door and knocked and Santa shouted my children's names from the other side (a really lovely and special touch). Mouths gaped as Santa somehow knew my son’s name. Inside was a roaring fire and the big man himself sat on a wooden throne. He sat and spoke to my children for quite some time, we didn't feel at all rushed, lots of photos were taken and a gift for each of them given. Then it was time to leave, we made our way back to the clothing room to remove our snowsuits and boots and begin the journey home. We arrived home into Manchester around 10.30pm and made our way back to our house.

Luckily the children were tucked up into bed before midnight, as everyone knows you need to be asleep by then or the "Big Man" won't come.

It was truly a special trip and one we will never forget.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and watch out for more soon.