Our last magical moments...

Before our flight home, Jake & I had pretty much a whole day to enjoy in th snow.  We had no official, pre-booked plans and we decided to re-visit the Santa Claus Village.  I checked on the internet and the village opened at 9am.  We decided we'd also try see Santa Park, which opens at 10am.  The picture of Jake above was taken just after 9am.  We did our little bit of shopping, went to say goodbye to Father Christmas and enjoyed having the whole place virtually to ourselves.  It made a pleasant cange from our previous visit.

We were allowed to act silly and get a few last photos.  This is me on the Arctic crossing.  I feel so surreal looking at this photo, like it was all just a dream...

Christmas everywhere...

Father Christm was singing jingle bells and doing a little dance.  Jake was very amused...

After losing 2 hats (his and mine) in th space of about an hour, we had to buy more.  We were going to walk to Santa Park and it was just too cold without.  My poor boy looks like a homeless child in all his mis-matched clothing.   think it's the pants that really do it though.  Note our names engraved in the ice...

Santa Claus Village is totally magical.  Jake & I especially enjoyed our extra visit with Father Christmas.  No Queues and we were able to sit and chat with him about his bit journey and about where we'd come from.  He made Jake feel very special.

Our cab fare from our hotel to Santa Claus Village was EUR23.50, which was our main reason for opting to walk the 2km toSanta Park.  There's a lovely foot path there through the snowy trees.  We really enjoyed our walk, especially since it was snowing all the way.  Below is a picture of one of the main buildings at Santa Claus Village.  We had lunch here on our firs trip there.  This photo was takn a little 10am.  The long nights had us tricked; no wonder bears hibernate.

The foot path...

And some of the snowy landscapes.  I don't know how to takethe blue out of my photos in Photosop, without making the pictures look black and white.  Deal with it...

Like I said before, Jake was fascinated with the snow.  By the way, I did check that this was snow and no ice.  And no, he didn't get his tongue stuck to the pole...

Like a husky, when he was thirsty, he jus ate snow.  And then threw it over himself...

He tells me that finding this little frozen stream was one of the highlights of his holiday.  I think it was just the walk in the cold with me that he enjoyed.  It was very special...

So the other problem I had with taking snowy pictures was that some of them came ot dull and faded.  Anyway... This i us arriving at Santa Park and Jake moaning at me for taking more photos...

There was an amazing ice galley, run by the ice princess.  It was as cold inside as it was out...

Me and the Snow Princess.  My son is learning how to be a pretty good photographer...

Jake & I on the royal throne...

More of the beautiful sculptures...

We also went to Elf School, where we were taught how to be a good elf.  It was heaps of fun and Jake really enjoyed meeting a real elf...

To get to the classroom, we had to pass through an elf sized passage, which was made to look lik a chimney on the oter side...

And here's our elf teacher.  She's 385 years old.  Elves noses and ears only start growing when they turn 300...

Next up was Mrs Gingerbread's kitchen.  We bought huge heart shaped gingerbread cookies to decorate...

Jake made a special one for him and my dad, who loves gingerbread. And yes, we did actually pack these into our hand luggage to bring home...

Jake & Mrs Gingerbread...

Father Christmas was also visiting ther.  Jake decided that this one looked different to the one we'd met he previous 3 times, so we agreed that te other one was the genuine guy and this one was just helping hm out.  Still, Jae was more than thrilled to be in th same room with this guy and super chuffed with the personally signed post card, wishing him a Merry Christmas... 

We did a little sleigh ride there too, whic was just super...

We saw all kinds of animals...

And people getting ready for Christmas...

And of course, lots of elves working very hard to make this the perfect Christmas...

We watched a little show, which was very confusing.  It had something to do with a troll falling in love with a fairy...

Next up was making our own elf Christmas tree decorations...

The troll came to vist us and he and Jake made good friends.  He was very interested in where we'd come from and spent quite a bit of time chatting to us.  Jake and him had lots of fun trying to hit my bum with a ball...

Lots of people leave their finished decorations there...

We were due to be collected from our hotel at 2pm, for our flight at 3pm.  It gave us just enough time to take a few last photos.  This is Jake at the entrance to our hotel...

The driveway...

These next few are from the lobby.  We couldn't get out there, so excusthe reflections in the glass.. 

Our room was where those two big trees are...

And a last few at the airport.  Jake ad already squashed his jacket, thermals, hat and gloves into our suitcase before we checked it in, so he was insufficiently dressed for outside and we were only able to be outide for a few moments... 

A magical welome to the land of Christmas for any visitor...

And that's it.  I hope you enjyed the pictures of our whirlwind adventure along with us  I can't believe that it's only just over a week since we got back.  We have the most amazing memories of a very special place.  To all those young at heart, or with young children - start saving!!!  It's the most magical holiday you could ever imgaine taking.  The locals go out of their way to make it special for the kids (and grownups alike) and it's really an absolute fantasy.

And with that, I'd like to wish you all a safe, peaceful nd very Merry Christmas.  I hope that you will all be celebrating with those you love and that it will be a very special time for you.

With lots of love,

Sue XXX

PS. To finsh the luggage saga - the bags we too with us that didn't arrive, were finally delivered to our home yesterday.  Fat help that was.  It was very disappointing to have to spend so much time shopping in a foreign country for clothing we already had.  I have tried very hard not to let it dampen our special memories.  Added to that, when we landed back home in Cape Town, our new bags didn't arrive either.  Those were delivered the day after we got home.

PPS. I have reduced the quality of my pictures, so sorry if they're not that clear!