MyDay with Cinnamon the elf – Christmas magic in the making at Santa Claus Village

Morning magic begins

When my jingle bell alarm rings at 8:30 in the morning, it's still dark outside my cosy cottage. That's how December mornings are in Lapland – dark and magical, with stars twinkling like diamonds in the sky. Through my window, I can see the first soft glow of morning painting everything in beautiful colours.

I put on my red elf uniform and my special pointy hat. It's very cold outside today, minus 10 degrees Celsius! That's so cold that your breath makes little clouds in the air, like tiny puffs of magic.

I walk along the snowy paths toward the village. Everything is covered in soft, white snow, and warm lights make the whole village glow like a fairy tale.

Reading letters from children

At the Letter processing centre, I meet my lovely elf friends for the day: Ginger, Pepper, Frost and Vanilla. Today, we have 3,847 letters to read from children. That's almost four thousand letters! They come from Finland, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Iceland.

I sit at my special desk by the window. Outside, I can see families starting to arrive at the village, their children skipping with excitement. I open my first envelope very carefully. It's from a little girl named Emma who lives in Helsinki, Finland. Emma wants a book about Arctic animals. She also asks a very important question: "Can Santa's reindeer really fly?" I smile as I type her wish into our magical computer. I make a note to send her a special answer about reindeer magic!

Every letter is special and tells a different story:

• A boy who hopes his grandmother feels better soon

• Twin sisters who both want the same robot, so they won't argue

• A teenager who still believes in Christmas magic (she asks for guitar strings to play music)

One letter makes me stop and think for a moment. It's from a little girl who just moved to a new country. She writes very carefully in English and asks for warm gloves and a dictionary to help her learn her new language. This letter is extra special, so I put a gold star on it. That means Santa will read it himself and make something wonderful happen.

Wrapping gifts in the packaging hall

After reading many letters, it's time to visit the Gift wrapping hall! The hall is filled with wonderful activity. Elves are folding colourful paper, tying ribbons into perfect bows and carefully placing toys into boxes.

My job is to make sure each gift is wrapped with care and love. Today, I'm wrapping a beautiful wooden sleigh painted with traditional Lapland patterns. I choose red and white paper with snowflakes and tie it with a silver ribbon. Perfect!

My friend Ribbon says something wise: "Every gift should feel like opening a treasure. The wrapping is part of the magic." She's right. When children see beautifully wrapped presents, their excitement begins even before they open them.

Lunchtime at Café of Mrs. Claus

At one o'clock, my tummy rumbles loudly – time for lunch! I walk through the snowy village to Café of Mrs. Claus, a warm and cosy café located in Mrs Santa Claus' beautiful Christmas Cottage. The wooden building itself is incredibly Christmassy and welcoming.

The café smells absolutely delicious! Today I choose a traditional reindeer sandwich – it's a Lapland specialty that gives me energy for the busy afternoon ahead. With it, I have a cup of steaming hot chocolate topped with whipped cream. Mrs Claus makes the best gingerbread cookies, so I take one of those too for a sweet finish.

I sit with my friends Ginger and Frost at a wooden table by the window. We talk about the morning's letters while we eat. Ginger tells us about two brothers who wrote one letter together. They asked if their father, who works far away in another country, could come home for Christmas.

"Frost is talking to different airlines – even Finnair, Santa's official airline – to see if we can help make it happen," Ginger says hopefully.

Frost nods and says something very wise: "Sometimes the best present isn't something wrapped in paper. Sometimes it's a hug from someone you love."

We all agree. That's what Christmas is really about.

Through the big café windows, I watch families walking through the village. Children press their faces against the glass windows of different buildings, trying to peek inside and see the magic. When elves wave back at them, their faces light up with pure happiness, like tiny suns.

When you visit Santa Claus Village, you can also eat at:

• Santa's Salmon Place – Fresh salmon cooked over an open fire, right in front of you!

• Piparina's Restaurant – A magical gingerbread village where you can try special Lapland foods with reindeer, fish and cloudberries

• Three Elves Restaurant – A beautiful and atmospheric restaurant serving delicious à la carte dinners in the evenings

Meeting Santa and helping families

In the afternoon, I have a very special task. I get to work at Santa Claus Office! This is where children from all over the world come to meet Santa Claus himself. The office is beautiful and warm, decorated with twinkling lights and handmade wooden decorations.

My friend Vanilla works here too, and sometimes we help children who are nervous about meeting Santa. We tell them that Santa is very kind and loves hearing their Christmas wishes. Later, I got to see those same children meeting Santa Claus. Their eyes are so wide with wonder, they look like stars shining in the night sky. This is why I love being an elf. These moments of pure joy and wonder.

Later, I walk to Santa Claus' Main Post Office. This special post office is right on the magical Arctic Circle line – the line that goes all the way around the Earth at the very top of the world! Even though it's dark outside at three o'clock (that's how winter works in Lapland!), thousands of lights make everything glow like in a fairy tale.

The Main Post Office is colourful and cheerful, filled with beautiful cards, unique stamps and wonderful gifts. Postal Elves work here every day, helping people send letters and postcards from the Arctic Circle to friends and family all over the world. All mail gets a special Arctic Circle postmark that makes it extra magical!

Did you know that Santa Claus receives around half a million letters every year at this post office? That's 500,000 letters! They come from about 200 different countries. Children and even adults write to Santa from everywhere – from tiny islands to big cities, from deserts to mountains, from every corner of our beautiful world.

My job is to help visitors send their letters to Santa and friends, and to stamp all the letters with a special Arctic Circle postmark. Throughout the evening, I help visitors from across the globe – from Japanese families presenting letters with polite bows to grandmothers sending cards to their grandchildren.

More magical places to visit in Santa Claus Village:

• Elf's Hat Academy: Learn ancient elf wisdom and crafts! You can even graduate as an elf's little helper

• Santa's Pets: Meet friendly reindeer, fluffy alpacas, goats, sheep, rabbits and even a donkey!

Evening stories and sweet dreams

When my workday ends at eight o'clock in the evening, I'm tired but happy. I join other elves at the Elf Commons for hot chocolate and cookies. We sit in comfortable chairs around a crackling fireplace and share the funniest and sweetest stories from our day.

Tonight, we laugh together about:

• A letter from a five-year-old who wants to be an elf when she grows up (we might recruit her!)

• A reindeer who discovered he loves lingonberry jam and ate an entire jar

• A visiting reindeer who sneaked into the cafeteria when nobody was looking and ate an entire tray of Mrs Claus's fresh cinnamon buns before anyone noticed!

We giggle and sip our warm chocolate while snow falls softly outside the window, each snowflake dancing like a tiny ballerina in the light.

At ten o'clock, I finally climb into my warm, cosy bed. Through my window, I see something absolutely breathtaking: the Northern Lights! They're dancing across the sky like magic ribbons of green and purple light, swirling and twirling as if they're painting the stars with colour. Some people call them Aurora Borealis. We elves call them “revontulet” in Finnish.

I think about tomorrow. More letters to read, more gifts to wrap, more families to help. Only two weeks until Christmas Eve! Two weeks of spreading joy and making magic real for children everywhere.

I think about all the children who will go to sleep tonight dreaming of Christmas morning, their stockings hung with care, their wishes written in letters to Santa. I think about the girl learning a new language who will soon have warm gloves for her hands and courage in her heart.

Being an elf in December is busy. It's tiring. Sometimes my feet hurt from walking, and my hands get sore from tying so many ribbons. But it's also the most wonderful, magical, special job in the whole world.

As I close my eyes, I smile. Tomorrow, we'll create more magic, spread more joy, and help more dreams come true.

And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Sweet dreams and may your Christmas wishes all come true!

Elves work every single day at Santa Claus Village in Rovaniemi, Lapland – the official hometown of Santa Claus. If you visit, you might see an elf like Cinnamon waving at you through a window or helping families at the Main Post Office. Every elf's mission is simple but powerful: make Christmas magical for every child in the world.

You can visit Santa Claus Village any day of the year – in winter, spring, summer, or autumn. Each season brings its own special magic. And when you fly there, you can travel with Santa's official airline, Finnair, connecting you to the heart of Christmas magic through Helsinki.

Come experience the wonder, cross the Arctic Circle, and meet Santa. And discover why Lapland is truly the most magical place on Earth.