A creature bathes at the Robolights art installation by Kenny Irwin Jr. in Palm Springs, California December 15, 2014. The installation consists of hundreds of whimsical robot and other themed sculptures created from recycled materials including golf carts, kitchen appliances and microwaved smart phones, and is open to the public each holiday season on the sprawling Irwin family property. (Photo by David McNew/Reuters)

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.

“The harp seal or saddleback seal is a species of earless seal native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean. Newborn pups weigh around 11 kilograms (24 lb) and are 80–85 centimetres (31–33 in) long. After birth, the mother only feeds that pup. During the 12 day nursing period, the mother does not eat, losing up to 3 kilograms (7 lb) per day. Harp seal milk contains up to 48% fat, so pups gain over 2.2 kilograms (4.9 lb) per day. During this time, the juvenile's “greycoat” grows in beneath the white neonatal coat, and it weighs 80 pounds (36 kg)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A harp seal pup lies on an ice floe in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence March 24, 2008 in Charlottetown, Canada. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Young South Korean models, with wearable computers, walk the cat walk during the Ubiquitous Fashionable Computer Fashion Show on November 17, 2006 in Goyang, South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

A garbage collector looks for recyclable waste at a dump in Erbil, in Iraq's northern autonomous Kurdistan region, February 21, 2016. (Photo by Azad Lashkari/Reuters)

Young monks play inside the Punakha Dzong, Bhutan, April 17, 2016. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

When it opened in 1955, the Grande Hotel in the Indian Ocean city of Beira was one of the most luxurious in Africa. Photojournalist Fellipe Abreu documents the lives of the 3,500 people who now fill this long-closed hotel to capacity. (Photo by Fellipe Abreu/The Guardian)

Just a few hours’ drive from the Belarus capital of Minsk, many villagers still live off the land. Nearly 80% of the country’s 9.5 million citizens live in urban areas, but for the rest, being close to nature can outweigh the hardships of country life. Here: Boys play in the Stviga River on a hot summer day near the village of Pogost, Belarus, August 16, 2017. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)