Regardless, that image is so entrenched in popular culture that it is now accepted as a tradition. Many people were certainly willing to pay large sums for a trip to Lapland to meet him. Although we balked at it initially, we eventually gave in to the fun, and signed ourselves up for a "Search for Santa" excursion.
At around noon, an elf picked us up in her van (it should have been a snowmobile, but we did not have time for that, so modern conveniences had to step in), and she drove us into the woods, and dropped us near a forest path lit by small candles.
Like a dream
We came to the elves' house at the end of the path, and the children indulged in tobogganing, snowfights, drove their own snowmobiles, and generally made a ruckus.
We could pop inside the house to warm up by the fire, enjoy a round of warm berry juice and cookies, and make traditional handicrafts.
After a while, one of the elves came to get us, and said it is time to search for Santa in the woods. We took a short 5-minute walk 'round the corner, and then ....gasp... spotted a red house at the end of the path with glowing lights
As we stood outside whispering with the kids about what we'd found, lo and behold, the old man himself came to the door and invited us in.
He said a few things to the kids (in English, of course), asked them to be good, and to make sure Daddy & Mommy are good, and then gave them each a wrapped gift.
Family photo with a legend...
It was a nice experience for those with young children, but I expected more. After all, plane loads of British tourists book these super expensive one or two day packages to Lapland (starting from GBP 2,000 per pax) every year just for this experience. We paid much less, of course, since we organised everything on our own, and directly with the tour providers.
And with that, we said goodbye to our snowy adventure, and hopped onto the plane (delayed 1.5 hours) back to snow-less Paris where it was a warm 2 degrees Celsius.
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