The joys of a family trip to Lapland to meet the REAL Father Christmas

We are told that we are heading to the sorting office to deliver some holiday letters. But when Sparkle the elf opens the door to the log cabin, surrounded by fir trees and drifts of snow, it is the man himself who greets us: the real Santa Claus.

From the perspective of the front of a festive card, it looks very convincing. So much so, I’m a little stunned. My six-year-old daughter Amelia smiles broadly and rushes to hug the jolly-looking man with a real beard and very ruddy cheeks.

In his soft Irish accent, he asks her what she would like for Christmas. But he says no, that he can’t take her request for one of all the toys in the world, and instead gives her a wrapped sticker machine (which we bought before the visit and secretly brought with us).

Then we’ll head out into the minus seven degrees snow, and continue on to our next activity of the day: snowmobiling for kids.

My husband and I brought Amelia to Finnish Lapland for a two-night trip, courtesy of canterburytravel.com.

With so many operators offering trips to this destination, and with the magical world of Santa Claus available in the UK courtesy of lapland united kingdom at Ascot, it’s hard to know which one to choose and whether flying abroad is an unnecessary expense. But here you have guaranteed snow, on what is probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip.

The Santa Claus theme begins at Stansted before we board our charter plane to remote Kuusamo airport, with Jet2 TV screens at our departure gate showing ‘Lapland’ as our destination, and staff dressed in elf costumes and handing out sweets.

‘This is your captain speaking. This plane will leave shortly for Lapland”, it is announced over the plane’s public address system.

Three and a half hours later, we watch snow fall from our coach window as we travel along the scenic route to the Arctic Circle Hotel in Suomu, which sits on the Arctic Circle, home for the next two nights.

It is a three star hotel in a stunningly beautiful location. The three of us are crammed into a smallish room with an extra pull-out bed for Amelia, but we’re not there for long.

The hotel restaurant serves hearty and sumptuous food (roast dinners, home-made soups, pasta dishes), enjoyed by children and adults alike. At dinner that night, the elves who will guide us through our activities the next day with games and songs introduce themselves and explain how all the children must complete six tasks, from learning a elves song to taking a ride in a husky sledding. so they can graduate, along with the special elf Sparkle, from Elf School. It is a very fun way to keep the little ones entertained.

Then it’s time for bed: tomorrow is a very busy day, with an incredibly early start.

With teary eyes, my husband and I try to ignore the 6:45 am alarm (4:45 am at home), but our excited daughter has other ideas.

After breakfast, we travel in a coach full of families to our first activity just a few minutes away. It’s snowing, but we’re all comfortable in the provided snowsuits and boots.

We make our way through the beautiful winter wonderland to a log cabin, where the elves are waiting to explain how they need the kids to help them pick up the letters for Santa scattered all over the office, which of course they do happily.

Families are called one by one to a large teepee with a roaring fire inside. The elves guide us through the games as we wait to be called for our turn to go to the sorting office, a ruse that results in us meeting Santa Claus.

It’s a fun way to do it. A surprise for children and parents. Then after that the snowmobile rides depart, first for the little ones (who are towed on mini snowmobiles by an adult in a full-size machine), then we get back on the coach and head to another location nearby. for a 10 -minute reindeer ride. Our group is divided in two, and while Rudolph and his companions drag some of them along, the other is inside a warm teepee, drinking hot berry juice.

After a short stop at the hotel for lunch, we get back on board and head out for a snowmobile ride, then it’s an hour for group games and time to play in the snow for 30 minutes. Then it’s another short ride, where the adults can ride the (big) snowmobiles.

However, there is a long wait as the adults outnumber the machines. And while there’s a fire going on and the kids are being entertained by Ginger the leprechaun, the chill begins to creep in.

Then we return to the coach for our last stop: the huskies. The group splits in two again, with one riding on a sled pulled by the hounds, while the rest of us meet up with the huskies being trained. They are in cages and not all of them are particularly tourist friendly yet.

It’s all over in a minute or so, and we head back to the bus for the last time. It’s been dark for a few hours and the moon has already risen (there’s only four hours of daylight here in winter), so it seems much later than 5 p.m.

After a roast dinner, we change for the prom, which is two hours later, and we’re all about to fall asleep.

Back at the restaurant, there is a joyous graduation event (with lots of dancing elves) for Sparkle and the children, who are given a special book to mark their becoming full-fledged elves.

Exhausted, we are all asleep within minutes when we return to the room. On the last morning before flying home, all the families on the same trip descend on the slopes next to the hotel for an hour or so of sledding with the elves as well.

After a very early lunch, we are transferred to the airport via a souvenir shop and we arrive almost four hours before our flight. It is the time that I would have preferred to spend enjoying the snow.

On the flight home, Amelia turns to me and asks if she’ll ever go back to Lapland. Maybe, I answer. “I hope so,” she says, “it’s been the most magical ride of my life.”

So even though it was a whirlwind visit, I’d say it was worth it after all.