the image is digitally painted in Photoshop and Corel Painter. I worked on it 10-12 days, can't tell exactly since I had to squeeze another project in between. this image is tied to my early childhood, where I used to imagine how Santa's place looks like and pictured him always in relation to animals. Around Christmas time our house was decorated in a similar way to the one in the picture, we also lived very close to the woods, where I saw imaginary lights on the tree tops in the distance. Of course the lights where just reflections of moonlight on snow, especially on frozen branches it looks like twinkle lights. thanks to the staff for hosting this contest, I enjoyed to participate - and good luck to all! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays