What if you could make this Christmas even more magical by escaping the ordinary and taking the family on an adventure? So many hotels and resorts around the country offer amazing deals and experiences during the Holiday season. Here are some of the best options for a family friendly Christmas vacation you are sure to never forget! After all, time spent together is better than any present under the tree. 

Few places can compare with the magical feeling you get when you visit a Disney park. To top it off they really go all out when it comes to Christmas celebrations. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is not to be missed with rides, parades, and special firework displays. If you are looking for a Christmas celebration that your kids will be talking about all year then you have found it here. There are several Disney resorts to choose from ranging in price and with ticket inclusive packages offered as well. 

Every day's a pool day at Great Wolf Lodge. During the Christmas season North America’s largest family of indoor water parks celebrates the holidays with its annual Snowland event. You will find life-size gingerbread houses, letters to Santa, caroling, and other many other festivities. You will also get unlimited access to an enormous indoor waterpark with water slides, raft rides, interactive splash pads, surfing simulators, a lazy river, a wave pool, and more. With many locations to choose from you are sure to find the perfect one for you. 

From late November through early January, Suncadia Resort in Washington's Cascade Mountains is getting in the holiday spirit with its annual WinterFest celebration. If a white Christmas is what you have been dreaming of then this could be your vacation. The resort offers lots of winter fun including tubing, ice skating, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, carriage rides, snowmobile tours and even winter fly fishing. Holiday traditions include visits to Santa's Workshop, elf tuck-ins, and a Christmas Day buffet. 

Twelve miles from Lake Placid in the Adirondacks is North Pole, NY, a "workshop village" open in summer and on weekends leading up to Christmas. Santa's village has shops, farm animals, candy makers, glassblowers, puppet shows, and a talking Christmas tree. Rides include Santa's Sleigh Coaster and Reindeer Carousel. I can't think of a more magical place to go see Santa than a place actually called North Pole! You will have a good chance of having a snowy Christmas here as well. 

Families visiting Smugglers' Notch Resort in northern Vermont can enjoy a variety of special holiday activities throughout much of December. Designed for all ages, these activities include cookie decorating, craft workshops such as sock puppet making and snow art, themed family challenge races, all included in the resort's vacation package. Santa will join children each Saturday around the resort's village bonfire for complimentary hot chocolate and cookies. A weekly Winter Carnival features music, food, games and the thrill of watching an ice carving specialist unveil a masterpiece. A torchlight parade and fireworks follow the carnival. Smugglers' vacation packages also include mountainside condominium lodging, lift tickets, snow tubing, ice skating, use of the indoor pool and hot tub and indoor FunZone with climbing inflatables, and family and adult entertainment. 

The holiday season kicks off in mid-November at four Gaylord Resorts with the return of ICE!, the award-winning icy attraction and six-week-long Christmas celebrations.  With more than two million lights and enormous Christmas trees plus the wonderful ICE! exhibitions, you are sure to find some Christmas magic here. 

So there you have it. With so many wonderful Christmas celebrations why not do something a little out of the ordinary this year. With the kids on vacation from school, the Holiday season can be the best time to take that perfect family vacation. Give your kids an adventure they will not soon forget! Who's ready to pack their bags? 

Until next time!

Ana Echem
Barefoot Voyages

When exploring Caribbean vacations there are literally thousands of options for hotels and resorts. There are, however, some that stand out above the rest. These lavish resorts will give you a serious case of wanderlust. Get packing!

Rising majestically above the 600 acre beach front resort of Anse Chastanet, Jade Mountain Resort on St. Lucia’s south-western Caribbean coastline is a cornucopia of organic architecture celebrating St. Lucia’s stunning scenic beauty. Part of the estate is the historical plantation of Anse Mamin and Emerald Estate where the resort grows its own organic produce. Expect grand sweeping spaces where bedroom, living area and an extravagant private infinity pool glide into one another to form extraordinary platforms floating out into nature. With the fourth wall entirely absent, Jade Mountain’s rooms called "sanctuaries" are stage-like settings from which to embrace the full glory of St. Lucia’s Pitons World Heritage Site, and of course, the beautiful Caribbean Sea.

Hermitage Bay is a privately owned, luxury, all inclusive, 5-star boutique hotel on the west coast of Antigua with thirty individual suites set in beautiful tropical gardens on the beach and hillside of a stunning natural bay. The resort uses as much locally grown and organic produce as they can, and also have their own organic kitchen garden on site. 

Set on the beautiful island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Amanyara borders the pristine reefs of Northwest Point Marine National Park, acclaimed for some of the world’s best wall and reef diving. Amanyara’s open-air Pavilions and Villas (pictured above), many with direct access to the sea, put the focus on the surrounding landscape. Four Spa Pavilions are set beside a reflecting pond, and outdoor yoga and a Pilates studio offer revitalization in an intimate, stress free setting. The menu at the ocean view restaurant focuses on Asian and Mediterranean dishes and fresh seafood. They are currently finishing repairs on the minor damage sustained during this past hurricane season. 

Once a plantation, Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve is now one of the most exclusive Caribbean luxury resorts in Puerto Rico inspired by the legacy and memorable vacation experiences of its original developer, Laurance S. Rockefeller. Its remoteness, discreet individualized service and deep respect for the environment distinguish it from other ultra luxury resorts by allowing extraordinary moments to unfold in the most unexpected ways. The Resort offers an array of amenities and facilities including three spectacular 18-hole golf courses, The Beach Club featuring adult and family pools, and the historic Rockefeller Nature Trail, an open-air sanctuary from land to sea.

Eden Roc at Cap Cana is a unique and secluded property nestles in the exclusive, beachfront community of Cap Cana at the eastern tip of the Dominican Republic. Surrounded by a tropical forest with ecological marvel, pristine beaches, towering cliffs, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course, and a bustling Marina. Think of the magnificent architecture along the French and Italian Rivieras, add a touch of Spanish Colonial design, and you get these storybook villas set among the dreamy landscape of the Caribbean. It is a unique interpretation of Mediterranean Riviera romance with a Caribbean twist.

Set in one of the most beautiful, undisturbed places in the world, Jumby Bay is an island of simple pleasures. Reachable only by boat, and with no cars in sight, this private isle of white-powdered beaches and winding bicycle paths is a one-of-a-kind hideaway known, quite simply, as the finest resort in the Caribbean. The island encapsulates everything about a fantasy hideaway, with secluded sun-kissed beaches lapped by pristine turquoise waters. And for every guest there is a journey of experiences waiting to be discovered — a private beachside picnic; snorkeling the nearby coral-fringed islands; a barefoot walk across our long golden sand bar, suspended in the open sea. 

Nestled within more than 2,170 acres of pristine Caribbean jungle,  the luxury Amanera resort overlooks the ocean from Playa Grande, whose golden sands make it one of the region’s most beautiful beaches in the Dominican Republic. The two-bedroom Bay View Casa and 24 freestanding Casitas are perched atop 60-foot cliffs at the western tip of Playa Grande beach. ​The Spa at Amanera features two treatment rooms, while therapies can also be enjoyed in the privacy of your Casita. 

This is not an all inclusive list of luxury resorts in the Caribbean as there are many more, but just a little taste to get you thinking about your next destination. They all look heavenly. Where would you go?

Until next time!

Ana Echem
​Barefoot Voyages