Magical Lapland - Day 3

After the pure, joy, exhilaration and wonder of Day 1 we had a slightly later start to Day 2, but there was one goal and one goal only for today .. .finding Santa

The day started off at Santa's post office deep in the woods, where we met Snowy Bowie, Wendy Wood and Speedy Sam, three of Santa's finest elves who helped us along the way and pointed us in the direction of Santa's workshop.

We were treated to a top notch show in Santa's post office where all the letters that boys and girls write from all over the world arrive before they make their way to Santa, Trixie the elf explained how everything works and Frankie even helped Trixie move some of the letters from the mail boxes to the final post boxes for delivery to Santa himself. Trixie even found the letter than one of the girls in our group had sent Santa weeks before and read it out to everybody which blew the wee girls mind.

After some quick goodbyes to the Elves we we were off again to our next adventure where we trekked through the woods for a couple of minutes before we reached a lovely little campfire where we roasted marshmallows and drank lovely warm berry juice. The girls scrambled over a great little obstacle course under the watchful eye of the elves again before we headed back to the restaurant for a quick bite of lunch - no sign of the big man just yet but we were getting closer .....

After lunch we got bussed back to another group of waiting snowmobiles pulling sleds decked out with fur blankets. Joan, Granny Linda, Scarlett and Frankie all got into the waiting sleds and we made our way up a tree lined laneway through towering snow laden pines and past frozen stream, we climbed higher and higher as the cold air nipped at our noses and eventually got to the top and stopped underneath a beautiful mountain home where we sat around a lovely warm fire for a few minutes before we were called up to the house by some of the elves, could this be it? had we finally found the man himself?

The elves asked us to sing a Christmas song outside the front door, which we eagerly did - after a minute or so the doors opened and we were lead inside by another elf and up to a beautiful dark timer clad room where we were told we had indeed found Santa and we had to wait here for him - so exciting. Then from out of nowhere the book case swung open and an unmistakable Ho Ho Ho was heard from down the stairs... Scarlett and Frankie, is that you? we heard - the girls have never moved so fast - we made our way down the stairs and there he was ... the man himself, Santa - the look on the girls faces was absolutely incredible and something I will never forget. We sat for a while with Santa as he talked to the girls asking them all about what they had been up to and asking them whether they had been good all year - he then reached into his bookshelf and pulled out the two letters that the girls had written to him a couple of weeks before - again the jaws hit the floor. Santa gave the girls both lovely gifts, which turned out to be exactly what they had asked for !! and after we said our goodbyes we went back up the stairs and we were gone - minds well and truly blown all round. It was incredibly well done.

Just when we thought all the fun was over, we were in the bus again and off to our final stop of the day - for some reindeer sledding. We climbed into our sleds again wrapped up tight with furs and skins to keep us warm as the reindeer walked calmly and majestically through the forest again taking us on a sunset tour of their homes - the crunch of snow beneath hooves and the gentle creaking of the sleds was the perfect way to round off the most incredible 2 days we have had with our girls.

Early nights for everyone were on the cards after the 2 days we had just had. Back on the bus in the morning and back to the airport for our flight back to London.

We went to Lapland with Canterbury Travel and I cant say enough about them and how brilliantly every aspect of the trip was done. It was a real treat to get to do this and we feel very lucky to have been able to do this for the girls.Read more