My son recently passed away very suddenly. Our family feels like this Christmas we need to get out of town and go somewhere to help us through the holidays so they won't be so painful. We are stumped as to where to go that might be fairly reasonable and something suitable for children 5 and 2. They is 8 of us. We are thinking of somewhere warm. Disney is out since we had gone there last year with my son. To many memories. Any ideas would be so appreciated because Christmas isn't far off.
Thanks so much

I'm not normally a cruise fan, but I think it would be a good choice for you. Lots of things to do (to stay distracted?) but not a lot of pressure on someone to make the trip work.

A cruise would be perfect. or if you could go out of the country that too would be good.

I am very sorry for your loss.

I know this must be a very hard time for you. I think that you planning something like this is great b/c you have to keep going for your other kids.

Good luck.

Shannan:
first of all, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

While I have never been on a cruise, friends of ours have done it as a family and it is good for all the above mentioned reasons - no pressure on you to have to plan, plan, plan - unless you think you want that diversion

I don't know from what part of the country your travel would originate from, but you could perhaps also think of one of the islands (st. thomas, st. john) look on the caribbean board for ideas.

One year when we had a sudden death, the closer Christmas got, the more I realized I too had to go somewhere else that first year, too many special memories in our house on Christmas Eve and day -
we ended up at St. Thomas, and it was perfect -
we went to the Marriot Frenchmen's Reef - there is a larger hotel and a smaller one - we stayed in the smaller two story one with connecting rooms, which was good wtih our two children -

it had a small pool on that side, and the larger at the big hotel - it had activities for the kids, many holiday related activities too that were new for us, including a special Christmas event in the town, and yet also down time on their little beach and some exploring on the island - I realize you ahve eight , so you may be better off with a condo type arrangement - many of which are available on the islands.

there was plenty to do or time to just relax depending on our mood - and it was easier than some of the other islands in the area b/c we didn't have to also ferry to St Johns (although we loved it there too) or to Virgin Gorda - but any of those might work for you.

St. Thomas worked for us that year b/c of the layout of the rooms, the small beach and pool for the kids, the activities, and ease of travel.

I don't know about what is considered 'reasonable' it varies for different people, sometimes finding warm and reasonable during the holidays can be tough - maybe someone on this board can recommend, or maybe you could also throw out the idea to a local travel agency for assistance.

How far you would considering traveling (east coast, west coast, midway, etc, might help people make suggestions also)

Oh shanna, my thoughts are with you and your family. My deepest sympathy.

Getting away is a good idea IMO. I have no idea where you live or where the other family people live or what your budget is. If you are on the west coast or near the west coast the first location that came to mind is Hawaii. Hawaii can be so soothing for the soul. But again not knowing where you live etc., that may not work for you.

Another thought, Puerta Vallerta, Mexico. But again unless one knows in what area of the US you live in and something about your budget (not trying to be intrusive) it is hard to make any suggestion.

My very best to you shannan along with many prayers.

I'm sorry, we live in Ohio. The condo idea sounds very nice. Do you think we could do anything for about $5-8,000? I know we have to consider airfare also. I'm open to any and all ideas.

shannan;
vrbo.com is a good place to start looking. you can look on St thomas, St John, etc and going down the list see how many a place sleeps, if it has a pool, location, click on the link for photos, etc. Many people have had good luck with this company.

There are other companies too, you might want to post a general question about this on the caribbean board where there are many who rent a lot and could offer other suggestions and then you could look at some trip reports for ideas also for other rental companies that posters have used:

here is one tiny url link to a good post on st. john villas -
http://tinyurl.com/g5v3x

If you go to caribbean board, and in the search bar put things like "st john villas" or "trip reports st. john'" or St. Thomas, etc you can see what others have found.

just as an example, here is one available for 4300 for the holiday week that has 4 br, 4 bath, pool, view, etc on St John
http://tinyurl.com/fbjcu

oh here's a good link about islands with lots of kids activities for young ones the ages you have
http://tinyurl.com/zbomc