My husband and I have a 4 year old and are looking for the perfect old fashioned white Christmas. I'm talking snow, horse drawn sleigh rides, hot chocolate, sled riding, carollers in a cozy inn. We live in FL and are going from Dec. 22-26. Think we have it narrowed down to Breckenridge, CO or the Wild Flower Inn in VT. Has anyone done Christmas in any of these places? What are your thoughts and in Breckenridge, where's a nice cozy place to stay with the family? Would love to do VT but concerned there might not be snow...

Breckenridge is nice. We did the perfect horse drawn sleigh ride with dinner in a cabin in the woods outside of Durango. Cozy inn? There's a historic hotel downtown and was a neat B&B just outside of town.

A cabin would be nice too but having a hard time finding something when we're only going for 4 days (most have a 5 night minimum). It wouldn't have to be an inn - something with a nice cozy lodge would be wonderful, something with a family atmosphere.

I was going to suggest Durango or Telluride. Both are magical during holidays. Durango is a bit more family oriented.

I stayed in Breckenridge several years ago - the town was really charming with great restaurants. We got lots of snow, did a horse-drawn sleigh - really loved it. I believe the place we stayed was called Beaver Run - not all that memorable, but we loved the town.

Lake Placid, NY usually has snow...no guarantee, though. Mirror Lake Inn (a hotel on Mirror Lake) has horsedrawn carriage sleigh, etc.

We did Keystone, CO one year at Christmas. They have condo rentals, not sure about minimums. They have ice skating and tubing as well.

I would suggest Stowe Vt. They will have snow sleigh rides and such. Try the VonTrapp family Lodge.

For an old-fashioned Christmas, we like Victorian architecture in a mountain town, plus all that you mention.

We have spent Christmas in Crested Butte, Colorado, a few times and it's a perfect spot. One thing we like is that it's relatively isolated so you don't lose the small town feel of it. Breckenridge is part of a large developed area of Summit County and there's lots going on, so not to 'cozy' feeling IMHO. Other recommendations would be Aspen or Telluride.
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We spent last Christmas in Steamboat Springs, CO. Did the sleigh rides, sleds, saw carollers, etc. Had 32" snow the week we were there, so it was definitely white! [we also love Breckenridge, but haven't spent Christmas there - should also be nice]

Mont Tremblant, Quebec City, anyplace in the central/north central Adirondacks.

There was no snow in Vt over Christmas 2006 but this is quite unusual. We have a friend who is a weather forecaster in northern Vt and he said the mild weather in the first part of this past winter was due more to El Nino effect than to global warming. He also predicted accurately that the second half of the winter, beginning in January, would be snowier--and it was.