Shrine Parishioners pull their portable shrine during Nada No Kenka Matsuri, or Nada Fight Festival at Matsubara Hachiman Shrine on October 16, 2011 in Himeji, Hyogo, Japan. The fight, the highlight of the shrine's Autumn Harvest Festival, attracts 100,000 people. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

Revelers gather on a commuter train platform of the HVV city public transportation system to drink alcohol on September 30, 2011 in Hamburg, Germany. Thousands of people participated in the event dubbed the “HVV Abschiedstrinken” (HVV Farewell Drink) that was organized through Facebook and is meant to celebrate the last day before a ban on alcohol consumption goes into effect on the city's public transport. (Photo by Joern Pollex/Getty Images)

A colourful morning sunrise on Christmas Eve at Victoria Tower on Castle Hill, West Yorkshire, England on December 24, 2017. The history of human activity on the Castle Hill goes back over 4000 years. The site was developed as an iron age hill fort, surrounded by defensive ditches and ramparts. In the Middle Ages there was a castle on the hill, of which the well remains. The present tower was built to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee of 1897. (Photo by Charlotte Graham/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

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.

Model and Reebok Easytone Ambassador Miranda Kerr reveals a 3D image shot by Rankin during a Reebok Satisfaction photo call on the roof of the Bayerisch Hof Hotel on April 17, 2012 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Reebok)

“The white lion is not a distinct subspecies, but a special morph with a genetic condition, leucism, that causes paler colouration akin to that of the white tiger; the condition is similar to melanism, which causes black panthers”. – Wikipedia

Photo: One of two rare white lion cubs from Mogo Zoo on New South Wales South Coast is seen at a photo call at Lavender Green, Luna Park on November 23, 2006 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

Penitentes, or nieves penitentes (Spanish for “penitent-shaped snows”), are a snow formation found at high altitudes. They take the form of tall thin blades of hardened snow or ice, closely spaced with the blades oriented towards the general direction of the sun.

Wang Zhengqing, a 74 year old pneumoconiosis patient, smokes his pipe at Yangjia Hospital in Wuyi County, Zhejiang Province, China October 19, 2015. Former miner Wang was diagnosed with the disease, which is caused by dust inhalation, when he was 24 and has lived at Yangjia Hospital for ten years. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)