The first time Csabi heard about the Santa Claus Village from her mother, Eszter.

He still remembers the day when Eszter was talking about the city of Rovaniemi where Santa Claus lives and meets children. Csabi also got information about the Santa television, so he has followed the activities of the Santa Claus day by day for several years.

His wish was evident: he wanted to talk to Santa Claus as long as possible.

Our departure time has been kept secret for quite some time, so Csaba got to know only on Thursday that we would fly the nex day. Then the Finnair employees’ strike was annunced, so we were really frightened how to get to Rovaniemi on time. Fortunately Santa Claus has fantastic helpers, for example the staff of the Finnish Embassy in Budapest and the Finn-Hungarian Association, so with the help of Santa they solved the problem and despite of the strike we could leave on Friday.

We would have liked if Csabi had been rested before the journey, so thanks to the management of the Art’Otel, he and his family could spend a night in this beautiful hotel.

The flight took all day with two interchanges and Csabi became seemingly very tired, but in the evening seeing the lights of the small town, the lights of the airport, the reindeer sculptures and the fabulous baggage claim hall, all his troubles disappeared and he could hardly wait for the Saturday's meeting.

We started the day with the „Santa Claus parade”, but of course there we got just a taste of the miracle that all children long for.

The parade was followed by a dog sledging, where eight playful huskies were happy to pull the sledge of Csaba. After that we drove to the Santa Claus Village where Elves were eagerly waiting for us. Santa's house is like a fairy tale, lots of stairs take you upstairs, there is huge pendulum clock showing the passing time, fire is crackling in Santa's room ... In one of the corners there is a huge box full of many, many letters sent by the children from all over the world. In another corner there are lots of gifts and books and of course Santa's favourite armchair stands in the center of the room.

Suddenly we did not know where to look, what to do, but the initial embarrassment was broken by the kind smile and voice of Santa in a moment. Then Csabi was sitting on his knees and they were talking to each other for a long time. Csaba had a lot of questions: How old is Santa Claus? What does he do all day? How are the toys made? ... Santa asked what Csaba would do if he grows up, and the surprising answer was that he wanted to be a Santa Claus, too. Santa answered that it would be quite difficult because he didn’t want to give up his job in the near future, although it is true that he is more than 400 years old, but that won’t be a problem.
However he asked Csabi to be one of his little helpers, because he had a lot of things to do. They agreed on it, and sealed the deal with a special badge.

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Then Csabi gave his gifts to Santa Claus. He made a fantastic penguin of plastic bottles. He thought it would be a nice surprise as penguins do not live in the Arctic. He also took lots of drawings and of course a wish list with him. Santa gave him a plush Rudolf – his favourite reindeer - as a gift and he also gave Csabi his own pen which is given only to the best of his friends. With a short photo session finished our our "fairytale" visit.

On Sunday our dear Finnish friends surprised us with a visit to the zoo and the main attraction of the day was visiting and walking around in the reindeer farm. Csabi fed his little friends with lichen, then he listened to the story about the four winds, told by a real Shaman of Lappland.

We had a wonderful time at the Santa Claus Village and we hope that this extraordinary journey will help Csabi to recover very quickly.

Éva Patzauer
wish-coordinator
Budapest, November 18, 2013.

See Csaba's letter here