Capturing the true essence of Christmas, Lapland is the perfect place to take your family for the holiday period. Situated in the arctic regions of northern Sweden, Finland and Norway, there are a villages in each country around where you can enjoy the full festive experience.

A young female polar bear came to the vessel, which was stopped and shut down in fast ice on the island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. She was playing right in front of cameras entertaining people.

In a handout picture released by the British Ministry of Defence via their Defence News Imagery website on August 22, 2016, Nils Olav the penguin inspects the Guard of Honour formed by His Majesty the King of Norway's Guard on August 22, 2016 at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. His Majesty the King of Norway's Guard paid a very special visit to RZSS Edinburgh Zoo to bestow a unique honour upon resident king penguin Sir Nils Olav. Already a knight, the most famous king penguin in the world was given the new title of “Brigadier Sir Nils Olav”. (Photo by Mark Owens/AFP Photo)

Birds behaviour winner: Land of the Eagle by Audun Rikardsen, Norway. High on a ledge, on the coast near his home in northern Norway, Rikardsen carefully positioned an old tree branch that he hoped would make a perfect golden eagle lookout. To this, he bolted a tripod head with a camera, flashes and motion sensor attached, and built himself a hide a short distance away. From time to time, he left road‑kill carrion nearby. Very gradually – over the next three years – a golden eagle got used to the camera and started to use the branch regularly to survey the coast below. (Photo by Audun Rikardsen/2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

The 33-year-old Norwegian rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in twin attacks in Norway last year, arrives at a courtroom. (Photo by Heiko Junge/AP File Photo)

A man uses a snow blower to clear a sidewalk during a winter storm ahead of the Christmas Holiday outside the Union Station, in Chicago on December 22, 2022. More than 2,200 flights were canceled across the United States by Thursday afternoon as a massive winter storm named Elliot upended holiday travel plans with a triple threat of heavy snow, howling winds and bitter cold (Photo by Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP Photo)

Settled snow is seen covering houses and Cecil Peak on New Zealand's lower South Island on November 4, 2011 in Queenstown, New Zealand. The unseasonal weather is not expected to clear until tomorrow, with snow continuing to fall. (Photo by Teaukura Moetaua/Getty Images)