We are looking for a destination for our family (2 adults and 2 kids ages 7 and 8) for the Christmas holidays. Good skiing is a must but we would also love to have a place that has a special holiday atmosphere. We live in Charleston, SC and would be most interested in destinations we can get to with no more than 2 flights and a shortish (no more than 2 hours) drive.
Thanks!

Snow at Christmas is not certain in Europe. To up the certainty you need to find a ski resort near a glacier (http://en.kitzsteinhorn.at/ for instance) in the Alps or head north of the artic circle in Finland (Yllas for example).

Christmas isn't a good time for European skiing - most resorts will have been open only a week and may not even have snow on most of their runs. The high altitude resorts will have snow but may be closed due to weather.

What is certain is that daylight hours will be limited - typically a maximum of 8 hours a day with sunset before 4:30pm.

Great to know. We just returned from a hiking vacation in the Dolomites and were blown away by the beauty and the friendliness of the Alta Badia area. One of our favorite hotel staff said that March and even April were best but we wnated to confirm. thanks for the advice; we will stick to the US.

March and even April for skiing in Alta Badia??? Go figure ... For YEARS they southern side of the Alps has had very little snow now in late winter, expect much sun but poor (man made) snow quality that late in the season.