rhunt

My husband and I have decided not to go back to the UK this year and are spending our first Christmas in the U.S. since moving here in March 2010. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area and are looking for recommendations on what to do. Do we stay and have Christmas here or go away? Is it expensive to travel over the holidays?

taffie77

We also arrived earlier this year, and have decided not to go back to the UK for Christmas. Instead we're going to go to Vegas for 5 days, around the 23rd to 28th

ETA - I reckon we can do it for around $1k for both of us, which includes flights from Minnesota.

bevinva

Find your crackers and drink, it's the only way to get through it.

Sally Redux

Orangepants

Spent one Christmas in Vegas - never do it again - it's like it doesn't exist! We went back home to Charlotte and had Christmas Day and Boxing Day on the 29th and 30th and went straight through New Year - we were hung over for days!! Gotta spend Christmas at home

jackattack

We decided to do the same thing three years ago since I was pregnant and due Jan 1 (therefore flying was out of the question). We looked at staying in hotels in places like Carmel and Tahoe and were shocked at how expensive it was. I don't mind paying to stay in a decent hotel but these hotels were charging $400 a night when out of peak season it would be under $200. It didn't feel right paying that much for a bog standard hotel so we ended up being adopted by some friends who live locally and had a fabulous time.

Not sure if the financial situation has made hotels drop the prices so you might have better luck this year.

N1cky

You could try the National Parks. We have been to Yosemite for Thanksgiving and the hotels seem to make a big fuss, the hotels are all decorated, some put an ice-rink up and do special activities both on site and locally and lots for kids (don't know if you have any). They also do holiday meals as either a big buffet kind of thing or as full service.

Kaffy Mintcake

Along these lines, while I'm sure it isn't cheap, the Timberline Lodge (in Mt. Hood, Oregon) has a nice Christmas celebration, particularly for skiiers.

Xebedee

Why not enjoy your first American Xmas in the City? There's always something fun to do there.
Try adding some "American touches" to the things you usually do at Xmas?

Like sunbathing......

Its more a hassle to travel over major Hols. I'd rather stay home, put my feet up, watch the telly, nod off on the couch.

BadgerNaboo

We just moved from London to SF and I have no intention of going home for Christmas looking forward to a different one (as long as our stuff arrives by then).

Mummy in the foothills

I doubt they'll be much sunbathing in SF in Dec. But they do go all out with the decorating and the music everywhere.
If you search about I bet theres all kinds of things going on. You could go to the theatre and have Christmas dinner in a fancy hotel if you don't want to cook.
We went to SF for a few days and came home on Christmas day, lots of fun shopping and all the usual stuff, if was very eerie driving through the city with hardly any traffic or people anywhere. There seemed to be a lot of Japanese Tourists in December, or maybe thats all the time

TimberHut

Really? Sounds kinda good to me!

At least all the Xmas crap doesn't start full-on til after Thanksgiving in the USA.

If anyone is traveling - then on a practical note - be a bit careful where you may have any change of planes whilst flying. A lot of the USA has bad weather in late December.

That 3 hour layover can soon get a bit iffy when your 1st plane lands 2 hours late due to a snow storm.

Bob

Flights are pricey, hotels are pricey.

Stay home, enjoy it....it'll all get taken down and not exist come boxing day anyway.

Picnic

If you like to ski you could spend a LOT of money on going to a resort for a Christmassy experience.

Otherwise stay home with your own traditions and don't be surprised when the Americans throw their Christmas trees out for the trash on Boxing Day!

BadgerNaboo

I thought they would stay up for ages!