If you are thinking about taking a family vacation as a Christmas present, you are not the only one. Even though it is a time honored tradition to be at home when Jolly Old St. Nick stops by your house, many Americans have made it their own tradition to take a vacation during Christmas time yearly. It is easier than ever to find fun filled Christmas vacations anywhere you would like to go.

How about a Christmas visit to the North Pole? Too cold for you? Ok would you consider North Pole, New York? Located in New York, North Pole sits nestled in the Adirondack Mountains. The most exciting and magical place to visit during the Christmas holiday, North Pole is both a fun and relaxing place to spend your Christmas Vacation rather you have kids in tow or are young at heart. North Pole offers Christmas vacation packages and is open during the months of November through December. These exciting vacation packages include admission into Santa’s secret workshop, lodging, and meals.

Shops galore line Santa’s Village, you will have no problems in finding the perfect souvenir to serve as a reminder of your fun filled Christmas Vacation. Often times live music is playing at the North Pole, to keep you and your family entertained. Other entertainment includes puppet shows, glassblowers, and many other exciting holiday events.

If North Pole, New York, does not offer you the reality you are looking for in the “next best thing, to the real thing”, why not consider visiting a little closer by going to North Pole, Alaska as a family Christmas Vacation? Packages are filled with exciting things to do such as visiting Santa’s home or taking a dog sled ride right through the heart of Santa’s Village. Alaskan dog sled riding is something many people hope to do on any trip to Alaska. Christmas Vacation packages include, accommodations in a nearby hotel and one to two night stays.

It does not matter how old you are, taking a Christmas vacation to either North Pole, while it may not be the real thing, is as close as you are likely going to get. It will keep the Christmas spirit alive and well in those young and old.

If the old guy is not your thing, take a visit to Christmas candyland in Hershey, Pennsylvania. You will delight in seeing the more than one million lights lighting up the town and the animation displays that the Hershey Park displays each year.

Bookmark to:

A family Christmas vacation can be a wonderful experience. It can fill you with wonderful memories that will last a lifetime. Christmas is a magical time to be surrounded by loved ones, friends and the spirit of the holidays. It’s also one of the busiest traveling times of the year. But, not to worry - there are still plenty of ways to enjoy a family Christmas vacation. A few tips will make your trip a breeze.

Christmas Vacation Tip #1: Play Santa

If you’re planning a Christmas vacation, be sure to wrap your gifts early if you are taking them for the trip. Always pack each gift carefully, especially if they are fragile, to avoid breakage or other damage. If you don’t have the extra room to travel with a gift, ship it before you leave home. If you ship to the address that you will be arriving at, the gift(s) should arrive within several days and will save you from traveling with them.

Christmas Vacation Tip #2: Don’t Forget

Make sure that you plan a trip that is enjoyable for everyone in the family. Before finalizing any details, sit down with your entire family and make sure they each person has something special to enjoy during the trip. Make sure that your trip is long enough so that everyone can enjoy their favorite activities.

Christmas Vacation Tip #3: Weather Planning

If you are planning outside activities, check ahead with the weather forecast. If you are going skiing, make sure to check with the local ski resort to inquire about their conditions.

Christmas Vacation Tip #4: Arrive Early

When making travel plans, always buy tickets as early as possible. Airlines and other forms of transportation, especially near the holidays, tend to fill up early. If you’re flying, call to confirm that your flight is on time before you even leave home. Upon confirmation, make sure that you arrive at the airport early. The same is true if you are traveling by train. Always call ahead to make sure that everything is on schedule because you certainly don’t want to be left standing in the cold.

Christmas Vacation Tip #5: Don’t Forget The Chef

If you are having a family gathering, which may include Christmas dinner, always pitch in to help with the cooking or clean-up. Catering to an entire family is a real job and it requires a lot of work. Therefore, any extra help that you can provide to the family member, who is acting as chef for the day, will definitely be appreciated.

Christmas Vacation Tip #6: Santa Questions

One of the best ways to enjoy a family Christmas vacation is by simply being together. When your children start asking questions like “How will Santa find me if I’m away from home,” have your responses ready and reply with reassurance that Santa is always watching. It’s these little moments that will be treasured forever and nothing will ever take their place.

For great family Christmas resources check out http://music.christmashub.com and my main site http://www.christmashub.com

Bookmark to:

Hands down, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is the best Christmas-themed comedy ever filmed. Personally, I make it habit to watch this movie about ten million times between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Even after seeing the film so many times that I can recite it word-for-word, Christmas Vacation remains as hilarious and entertaining as the previous holiday season. More than just a seasonal film, it’s one of those rare comedies that it near perfect from beginning to end.

Christmas Vacation follows the ongoing exploits of Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) and the Griswold family, but this particular rendition of the classic Vacation movies is arguably the best. As in the previous films, Clark’s goal is to create the perfect vacation for his family. Only this time, instead of hitting the road for Wally World or flying to Europe, the Griswolds stay at home in suburban Chicago.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus (mere months away from signing on for the role of Elaine on Seinfeld) makes several appearances as Clark’s annoying, yuppie neighbor Margot, a character accompanied by her equally elitist yuppie partner, Todd (Nicholas Guest). Randy Quaid makes a return appearance as Cousin Eddie, playing the same role from the original Vacation film. As Clark’s unsophisticated and backward relative, Eddie is a man whose “heart is bigger than his brain”. Beverly D’Angelo also returns in her previous role as Clark’s wife, Ellen.

When Clark vows to create “the most fun-filled old-fashioned family Christmas ever,” things naturally go awry. With the Griswold family and their in-laws living under one roof, the relatives constantly get on each others’ nerves. Clark sets out to decorate the house for Christmas, and his quest culminates in a 25,000 light extravaganza that covers every square inch of the house. In the process, he nearly breaks his neck several times and knocks out Todd and Margot’s window with a flying lance of roof gutter ice.

The laughs multiply several times over when Cousin Eddie arrives uninvited and parks his RV in the Griswold driveway. In tow are his wife Catherine, their two kids Ruby Sue and Rocky, and their lovely dog “Snots”. The crescendo of disaster steadily increases as Christmas Day approaches with Clark’s agony compounded the absence of his annual Christmas bonus. Clark’s big Christmas surprise for the family is that he’s putting in a pool, but in order to start work as soon as the ground thawed out, he had to put down a hefty deposit which his check won’t cover without the Christmas bonus.

After a Christmas Eve in which the turkey explodes, Aunt Bethany’s cat electrocutes itself, Uncle Lewis burns down the tree, and a squirrel gets loose in the house, a late night knock on the door provides Clark with hope. A deliveryman hands him an envelope which fell between the seats, the fabled Christmas bonus. But when the bonus isn’t quite what Clark expected, Cousin Eddie surprises Clark with an unexpected last minute gift?

Originally released in 1989, Christmas Vacation has surprisingly little content that makes it seem “dated”. As such, it’s certain to be a holiday viewing tradition for generations to come. With some of the best one-liners in all of comedy, you’ll find yourself reciting its dialogue for many Christmases to come. But what makes Christmas Vacation such an enduring film is that everyone who watches it can relate to the events within. Almost everyone has a strange relative like Eddie or a pair of snotty elitist neighbors, and of course, who hasn’t had a squirrel ransack their house on Christmas Eve? Overall, this movie is a barrel of laughs. If you don’t like it, you probably aren’t breathing?

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (DVD).

Bookmark to: