Weird Christmas

I thought that spending Christmas in Lapland would the most festive and magical thing ever-  It's pretty much the Christmas place; there is always snow, plenty of reindeer, and of course the real Father Christmas lives here. 

Well we actually have three of them- but shh!

Lapland overall has been a highly enjoyable trip even if Christmas Day itself was a little strange. The problem was that day felt no different to any other because we have been in mega-Xmas mode for so long. Christmas music plays on the coach every day and we are surrounded by elves with fake presents. Since late November people have been pulling crackers at our festive dinners so I've become very desensitised. I was wondering if you lose the excitement of Christmas as you grow up, but I think its more to do with working all day on the 25th that made it seem less exciting, rather than my age.

This aside, its been wonderful and at least the children we've taken care of have had a very special time. My housemates Simon, Sarah and I had a chat after a very non-festive Christmas dinner about what an odd one its been this year.

We have a staff cook so the food's supposed to be great.
For a Christmas dinner, great this was not.

Well seeing the Norhtern Lights on Christmas Eve was a very precious experience, especially as they aren't out as much as you might think. In the five weeks I've been here, I've seen the Lights three times, and two of those times were quite faint instances. The first time I really saw them I was with Sarah and Ratty and we went mad. We were up on a hill and looking left we saw dancing green, then right was more colour splashed across the sky. I won't try to describe them but I will say its certainly the defining experience of the trip.

Finding them ain't easy. I am always having to stay optimistic when they guests pay for expensive 'Search for the Northern Lights' trips and ask me if they will see them. All I can really explain is that if its couldless and the conditions are right (between minus 10 and 15, with enough solar wind from the sun) then it could happen. I'm often honest and say that they aren't out a lot, so they aren't fed false hope.

Which is not the same tack I take for the impossible task of catching anything at the ice fishing...

Looking confident but knowing there will be no catch...

We do a novelty ice fishing activity for the children- its just for the experience really as the fish in the frozen lake will never bite the plastic bait that they dangle down. But with this I often do some Hollywooding to answer keep the interest high. Rather than confessing that its a waste of time, I'd say: "They are usually scared due to noisy children but fingers crossed! If you're really quiet and very lucky, you never know."  

Aliens might not appreciate 

the magic that's being spread

A guest said to Simon: "It dont really matter if there's no fish in there, this whole concept of this holiday's based on a huge lie." So it made him sound like a regular Ebeneezer but he actually made a fine point. 

On their holiday, each family set off on a sleigh ride through the woods which is very enthralling. As they dash through the snow, they arrive at a secluded cabin and are directed inside by playful, selfie-taking elves. Once they get inside the cabin, the children find Father Christmas, many not knowing that they were travelling to meet him. Most miraculously he knows their names, ages and Christmas wishes. I wont give away how we sort that part out when we have up to 130 families seeing him a day, but its a clever system that leaves them speechless and in full belief. 

This is not the cabin where you find Santa.
But it was cool to walk past it each day.

So good is this lie that we often have Santa-sceptic children who then 'find the magic' after they see the man himself. It really is warming to help them off their sleigh and see them smiling and believing again. An alien observer might wag a judging finger at us at rejoicing in this successful trickery. But aliens might not appreciate the magic that's being spread.

While it lasts the belief in Father Christmas makes the festive season a little more special for children. But what about the moment when that reality when of the Christmas fib hits you. Do you remember how old or where you were when it came about?

Mine was unfair. I was in Wales staying at a cute pig farm for Christmas (as you do) and Men Behaving Badly was on. Trecherously, there was a passing line about "Well when did you realised he didn't exist?" which of course instantly ruined it. That was it. There's no recovering from it. I can't remember what my mum said about it, I'm sure she tried to brush it off as a joke but the damage had been done.Once I knew 'the truth' I did think that it made sense that it was all made up. It was suddenly obvious, but in a sad way.

My other housemate, Sarah, confessed: "I had heard the rumors in school so I was coming around to the idea. Then me and my sister realised that Santa and mum use the same wrapping paper and they even had the same tags and handwriting. It was a bit suspicious really so we cornered her, called her out and she caved." Children are silly, but on occasion they can suss you out!

Here's a question: should you lie to your children about Father Christmas? 

I would say 100% yes and I am sure that many would also agree.

The reason is that its not a bad lie. Its one that brings joy and the maintains the mystery and innocence that the iPad youngsters of today have far less of than previous generations. Believing in something so far fetched is the sort of sweet and naive thing that kids should be doing at their age. 

I feel that some (or many) children nowadays don't know how to play 'pretend games' for hours outside like we used to. Yet, in Christmas, every kid gets to be a kid, with childlike wonder and excitement being universal.

As a parent I'm sure the festive time can be stressful; there are presents to buys and lies to uphold, but there are things you can do at Christmas that get huge results for minimal effort, right? Get the children to put the mince pies out then all you do is take a bite out once they are asleep... By the time they wake up they go ape shit, screaming: "He came, he came!" and leaping around the house.

I remember having seen 'reindeer prints in snow' by the fireplace as a child. I could not care less that the snow was quite obviously flour- I mean I didn't even question the flour- it was just cool that they'd been in. 

Also I knew that our fireplace was blocked up and you could not negotiate it even if you had been a partridge, let alone a human. But did I care? Of course not. At Christmas its like the magic overrides it all and they'll belive anything for much longer than usual. You'd have to lie quite obviously, like having the exact wrapping paper for mummy and Santa, for them not to be fooled. Even then I am sure that many parents get away with it!

Dark as usual- but ice skating was fun!

So, even though we over-xmassed during our time here its been a fun episode in my life. Ice skating on a frozen lake on Christmas Eve and a karaoke night on the Day itself did bring a lot of joy, and I was happy to spend it with great people I'd met 4 weeks previously.

It always going to be a bit different when you are away from family, but if you want to faff about in different places in the word, its something that you have to come to terms with. 

Its not a lifestyle I will be stopping soon, so let the next adventure begin.

And that signals that we are over Christmas for this year.
Well over it.

Next post: Hot Housing
Previous post: Lack of Light and Little Lies