Away for the Holidays

Travel America, Nov, 2000 by Vivian Holley

Mild December weather enhances yuletide cheer from Florida to New Mexico

Not that a sunshine guarantee comes with a plane ticket to southern parts--but the deeper south you venture, the better the odds for pleasant and often balmy weather for Christmas. Which means you can lose your snowboots and lace up your strolling shoes for indoor-outdoor fun during the festive holiday season.

Options? Take your pick of events, activities, and attractions from multicultural celebrations and tours of historic homes, to winter-blooming gardens and golf beside the sea, to eye-filling fantasy for kids and candlelit cuisine for grown-ups.

Set sights southwestward and you can't miss Texas, where the events come big. San Antonio's magical Christmas extravaganza is no exception--a time when the winding River Walk is aglow with galaxies of lights, endlessly reflected in the dark waters. On December weekends, the Fiesta de las Luminarias symbolically lights the way for the Holy Family and for a parade of decorated boats, with candles strung along the river banks. On December 10, Las Posadas re-enacts the traditional pageantry of the Holy Family's search for shelter, a singing procession that begins at La Mansion del Rio and ends at the Arneson River Theatre.

Holiday happenings are similarly multicultural in New Mexico. The Pueblo-Spanish-style adobe buildings of Albuquerque's Old Town, the historic and sentimental core of New Mexico's largest city, lure holiday shoppers looking for South-western art and accessones. At dusk on Christmas Eve, flickering luminarias--small paper bags with a bit of sand and a votive candle--create a magical sight that guides the faithful to mass.

In the state's southeast city of Carlsbad, home of the time-carved chambers and formations of Carlsbad Caverns, Christmas on the Pecos is a floating event that begins on Thanksgiving and continues through December 31. Boats depart from the Pecos River Village, drifting past colorfully illuminated islands and homes.

Homes, in fact, are the stars of many a seasonal celebration. Among the cities blessed with history-rich structures in Savannah, which re-creates an 1886 Christmas at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, a landmark mansion that was home to the founder of Girl Scouts. Allow ample time for on-the-hoof exploration of the grand architectural legacy in the Georgia port city where James Pierpont, music director at a local church, composed "Jingle Bells" in 1857. Then grab your last-minute shopping list and light out for City Market, a pedestrian street of shops and artists' studios, where musicians stroll and horse-drawn carriage tours embark.

A knockout collection of white-columned charmers awaits in Natchez, where 15 of the antebellum beauties will welcome holiday visitors to Mississippi. One of them, romantically christened Rosalie, will host a candlelight tour December 15-16. In Vicksburg, two home tours--December 2 and 16--will each spotlight four 1800s houses turned bed-and-breakfast inns. For Vicksburg's annual Balfour Christmas Ball, December 9, both residents and visitors gussy up in period garb for a re-enactment of Christmas 1862 in the graceful antebellum mansion. Open house at the Balfour and other vintage structures is part of a packed activities day--December 2--scheduled by the Southern Cultural Heritage Foundation.

Along Mississippi's Gulf Coast--call it Monte Carlo with magnolias--holiday sparkle will join the beckoning lights of a dozen casinos. After you've tried your luck at gaming, check out beautiful Beauvoir at Biloxi, decked out in the style of the 1880s when it was the home of Jefferson Davis.

As on the Gulf, gaming is a glittery lure in party-hearty New Orleans, where Harrah's opened its razzle-dazzle casino doors downtown in October 1999. Louisiana's capital of contagious joie de vivre--at its jazziest when the city's singular festivals pack the streets with celebrants--wears a different face at Christmas. It's a time when the French Quarter's lacy iron balconies sport garlands and its legendary restaurants serve up Reveillon repasts, a prix fixe Creole feast traditionally prepared by a family after a period of fasting. Here are just a few of the damn-the-cholesterol dishes you can tuck into: turtle soup and Bananas Foster (they invented it) at Brennan's; Broussard's German-accented stuffed goose breast with pork, apples, and chestnuts; shrimp remoulade and oysters en brochette at Galatoire's; roast quail with pecan sweet potatoes at uptown's Upperline.

Reveillon on the river? Simply set out from the port of New Orleans aboard the Delta Queen paddle-wheeler or one of her royal sisters. A roster of December five- to seven-night cruises on the Mississippi feature not only the famed Creole feast but Cajun storytelling and the traditional Cajun bonfire on the levee.

Family travelers, too, will find destinations where activities are designed to keep all ages entertained. At The Cloister on Georgia's Sea Island, generations gather year after year for a time-honored program that may find dads on a seaside golf course, moms at the seaside spa, teens at tennis, and small fry in a staff-led romp on the beach. Indoors, all come together for the resort's family-focused visit from Santa, yule log ceremony, huntstyle luncheon, and Christmas candlelight feast (no charge for meals for children under 19 sharing accommodations with adults).