As a child, white Christmases were a time of cold and wet feet from trudging through slush, huddling around whatever heat a coal-starved fireplace could provide (there was a war on, you know) and just hoping Mr Claus would avoid the Luftwaffe and find our smokeless chimney.
But, if it's a white Christmas you want, try this for size . . . down among the awesome icebergs and abundant wildlife of Antarctica.
Guests of Expedition Cruises gather in this environment for carols and eggnog on deck before going in for a traditional Christmas dinner with trimmings.
You'll still be in the area a week later to welcome the New Year, toasting and dancing under sunny Antarctic skies (endless daylight) and a festive feast in the ship's dining room. Good weather permitting the feasting might be outdoors with a barbecue and champagne on deck or nearby ice.
You set out from the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia, sailing directly to the Antarctic Peninsula across the Drake Passage and via the South Shetland Islands. Visits to penguin colonies and viewing passing whales and seals set the mood. This is a photographer's dream.
The journey continues down the perimeter of the peninsula, taking in the Gerlache Strait where sheer, snow-dusted peaks usher the vessel into the narrow, ice-choked confines of the Lemaire Channel. Off-ship excursions are by Zodiac inflatables.
Some of the programs include a visit to one of the most remote museums in the world, Port Lockroy, where you can buy a genuine Antarctic postcard.
Expedition Cruises' Great Antarctic Explorers program (Dec 13-January 7) costs from US$18,500 (pp triple share); the Antarctic Adventure (December 20-31) from US$5200 (pp triple share); Antarctic Adventure (December 30-January 10) from US$6100 (pp triple share); Classic Antarctica, December 27-January 6), from US$4900 (pp triple share) and Classic Antarctica (December 28-january 7) from US$7,200 (pp twin share)
Talk to a travel agent.
HAVE YOUR CAKE and EAT IT
WE'LL take their word for it, but a wedding in Australia now costs on average about $28,000 - and that's before the honeymoon.
Fijis Lomani Island Resort (photo) has come up with an option dear to every father-of-the-bride's pocket, combining wedding ceremony, reception and honeymoon.
With bookings available right up until mid June 2010, allowing plenty of time to save, the all-suite Mamanuca Island property is offering couples and 22 of their closest friends and family the chance to ‘own’ their own resort for five nights complete with all wedding arrangements. This includes all accommodation for 24 people for the five days, all a la carte meals and a three-course beachside reception meal.
The wedding arrangements include a minister, priest or celebrant to perform the ceremony, bridal bouquet and groom's buttonhole, four Fijian ‘warriors’ to carry the bride to the ceremony on a decorated bridal chair or a decorated wedding arch covered with frangipani and hibiscus. There's also champagne to toast the bride and groom and a CD of digital photos taken by the island's wedding coordinator.
The Lomani Island Resort wedding offer is priced from $28,700!
Long weekend packages are available for those with less time to spare but with similar inclusions, from $15,500.
For more information visit www.lomaniisland.com FORE GREAT GOLF HOLIDAYS
OK, already . . . so you've played the Royal and Ancient and other challenging links and everything else is boooooring!
How about British Columbia, Canada where they're well off for golf courses which, for scenery alone, are matchless.
TRY Eagle Ranch: Soaring above the Columbia Valley Wetlands and Lake Windermere in the Kootenay Rockies, Eagle Ranch Golf Resort is exciting by the most exacting standards of western Canada. The 6646-yard course (they're still in yards, there, thank goodness), designed by acclaimed architect William G. Robinson, rambles through arid coulees and pine forests delivering stunning mountain views which, if you're not careful can put you off your game. Look out, too, for the lookout for the many eagles soaring in the clear mountain air from their eries in the towering treetops.
A package from High Country Properties, on sale here, offers an Eagle Ranch experience which includes two nights accommodation in a deluxe holiday home, two rounds of golf with cart, a $25 gift card, and four passes to the soothing radium hot pools, all for about $156pp.
Visit www.highcountryproperties.com
CANADIAN Tour ace Dave Barr - he came within a whisker of a US Open back in 1985 is now into golf course design and his first effort, Canoe Creek, at the base of Mount Ida in the Thompson Okanagan region, is out to woo pill-chasers from Australia.
The course is scenic and old-worldly (watch out for those sod-walled pot bunkers) and rolls through meadows and marshland darting, here and there, through the woods at the base of Ida. Its 7026 yards and championship tees will put the best and fairest to the test, if not the sword.
Visit www.canoecreekgolf.com
A POSTCARD pretty harbour, lush gardens, grand architecture, world-class cuisine, European charm and beautiful resorts are usually allure-enough for Aussies visiting old-world Victoria in this part of Canada.
Now, to add to its appeal the city is actively promoting its several unforgettable golf experiences. Bear Mountain Resort (soon to be the only facility in Canada with two Nicklaus courses), Olympic View Golf Club, and Arbutus Ridge Golf Club are three courses being served as mains.
Arbutus Ridge is a strategy challenge while The Bear 's (again) awesome scenery will vie for your concentration. Olympic View is where precision is the key.
Golf Vancouver Island has a range of short duration golf packages to suit most tastes and talents.
Visit www.golfvancouverisland.ca
BIG SKY in the Whistler area is better known to Australians as ski heaven but out of (their) winter you can actually play a round (careful with the interpretation) for $39! This one is in a lush valley with one of the most spectacular golf settings anywhere in Canada - and that's a big claim.
Big Sky Golf and Country Club, at Pemberton, is a firm favourite, and a quality course you'd expect to pay much more to play. Its rates, especially in (their) Spring and Autumn, are affordable - like their after 3pm twilight golf which, indeed, costs $39. But for those who want to do it right, try for a Wednesday or Sunday and the special golf and dine for $49!
Visit www.bigskygolf.com | 
