The Christmas Wish Project is a photography project unlike any other. Why? Because it transports seriously ill children from their hospital beds to magical winter wonderlands with Santa Claus.

Karen Alsop is the person behind this brilliant idea. She's a Melbourne, Australia-based photographer and digital artist, and she decided to give sick kids at Monash Children's Hospital in Melbourne a Christmas they'd never forget. She set up a temporary photo studio in an empty room of the hospital, and along with Santa's help she set about snapping her subjects in various imaged scenarios. Then putting their digital editing skills to work, Alsop and her team of Elves used Photoshop to create magical dream-like winter worlds for the children in her photographs. The project took 15 straight hours in total, and we're sure you'll agree that the final result was worth every second.

"I’ve always felt for the children...who are unable to leave the hospital during this season," she writes on her website. "I wanted to give them a gift that brings hope and I wanted to free them, at least in a creative sense...from the confines of the hospital ward and the reality of their situation. My main aim was to rekindle their faith of what the future holds for each of them."

More info: Karen Alsop | Facebook | Instagram (h/t: PetaPixel)