Christmas is frantic, nostalgic, consumer-driven and exhausting. Get away for a few days to recharge and recalibrate. A different venue will give you a different point of view. Distance can restore perspective. And avoiding the whole gift-wrapped circus by embarking on a Christmastime vacation may just result in the most enjoyable holiday you’ve ever had.
Head to the Berkshires for a Christmas retreat. If you think the whole season is too madly commercial or the social whirlwind has you winded, take a deep breath or two at Kripalu Center. Recharge, in the season of depletion, at a serene yoga center tucked between the mountains and a lake. The food is healthy, light and vegetarian. The classes and healing bodywork can be customized for a schedule that suits you. The rooms are spare but comfortable; there is no holiday excess. Kripalu has daily yoga, training courses, guest lecturers, a private lakefront beach, kayaking, hiking and walking trails, sauna, fitness center and a state-of-the-art “green” dorm with options for shared and private rooms.
Check out the trees in the Big Apple for a holiday tour that’s a little bit green and very glittery. Rockefeller Center has the showiest spectacle and the tallest tree. The 2010 tree was a 74-foot tall,75-year old blue spruce with 30,000 multicolored LED lights strung on five miles of wire and a 9-foot-six-inch-diameter Swarovski crystal star with a million sparkling facets. Head uptown to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a glimpse of their 18th century Neapolitan cherubs and angels nestled into the branches of a 20-foot blue spruce in the Medieval Sculpture Hall. Then cut through Central Park and walk past the giant barosaurus topiaries at the entrance to the American Museum of Natural History. The museum’s origami tree is an annual treasure, decked out with hundreds of handmade elaborate origami sculptures. Each year the tree has a theme, and volunteers begin folding the ornaments in July to bring the theme to life for the holidays. Kids can learn origami from volunteers at tables set up near the tree throughout the holiday.
Let the mouse do your holiday work. Take the kids to Disneyland in California for non-stop activity that provides Christmas magic without Christmas burnout. It snows three times a day in Disneyland. The castles gleam with icicles, the fireworks are spectacular and predictable, the candlelight procession is accompanied by a full orchestra and caroling, and Santa parades down Main Street with hordes of dancing Disney characters. The kids can decorate cookies and you can grab a hot chocolate or something stronger to toast the season. Hang out with real reindeer and make a few wishes that Christmas could always be this easy.
Low-key and funky in the Florida Keys is a Christmas escape you’ll remember and maybe repeat. Drive down the Overseas Highway from Miami and marvel at the necklace of islands, the water views and the 7-Mile Bridge. Check into a bed and breakfast or a quirky hotel and drop out of the holiday rat race. Kick back and wander around town on foot, by rented bike or on a trolley tour. Sample the famous corner bars and channel the ghost of Ernest Hemingway, or visit his house and check out the six-toed cats. Mallory Dock is all done up for Christmas with a light show to compete with the famous sunset views, and there’s a lighted boat parade and a hometown holiday parade down Duval Street that finished in Sloppy Joe’s Bar. Not your mama’s Christmas celebration, but a breath of fresh air, and maybe even a little beach time in the tinsel season.
