For the holiday season, many families board planes, trains, and automobiles heading for warmer climates. And why not? Trading snow for sunshine is a brilliant way to celebrate the holidays, giving you a break from glacial temperatures when you really need it.
The holiday season is also when you and your family are likely to have time off from work and school. And it’s when you all share a solid — indeed, almost unavoidable — reason to spend time together.
Bah Humbug to Holidays Past?
A festive family meal lit by Grandma’s fireplace has its appeal, but so does a festive family meal lit by the sunset at a Caribbean beach resort. One big advantage of opting for a Bahamas cruise for the holidays, as opposed to staying home and shoveling the sidewalk, is that you can be sure the only ice you’ll be dealing with is in your Bahama Mama cocktail.
Cold snow or warm sunshine, what will it be? You can be the revered ancestor who started the tradition of celebrating the holiday season in a place that’s 80 degrees with clear blue skies. The old tradition involving ice and slush and snow can be and has been improved. Short sleeves are the order of the day. Bring your swimsuits and maybe a light sweater for the evening breezes.
But Isn’t That Terrible?
Going away for the holidays actually enhances the family connection that traditional holiday celebrations are meant to reinforce. Normally during holiday get-togethers, everyone sits around, wrapped in blankets, watching football or chatting. That same football game and those same chats can be had on the warm and sunny Riviera Maya, except they are much better there.
A shared travel experience lifts every family member, nuclear and extended, out of ordinary patterns and transports them to a pleasant new environment they experience together. Suddenly they’re on the same team, and they’ve arrived together in this new land, and there’s a pool and a hot tub, fresh seafood and ocean breezes. And they are making memories together that will live on year after year, generation after generation. Remember that New Year’s Eve in Barbados?
But What About Our Family Traditions?
You can take many of your family holiday traditions with you anywhere. And you can make new ones that can bring your family even closer together.
Sure, ice fishing in Minnesota is fun, but wouldn’t you rather spend the holidays sport fishing in Bimini à la Ernest Hemingway? Your mother would rather be shopping in Key West than at the local mall or online. Little Joey wants to go to that amazing water park much, much more than he wants to sit on Santa’s lap.
If you’re held back by your affection for snow and the holidays, remind yourself that rarely does anyone actually get the proverbial white Christmas —- more often it’s a brown, slushy one. New Year’s Eve is almost inevitably icy without being attractive.
Don’t worry, you won’t miss much. The snow and crisp cold air and even many of the festive decorations will still be there when you come back from your holiday in paradise.
But What About Gifts?
Many families who head to warmer spots for the holidays skip the gift-buying entirely — the trip is the gift they all share. They also give themselves the gift of skipping all the cleaning, cooking, holiday party-giving, and holiday party-going that makes the festive season a succession of chores, opting to be shamelessly waited on instead.
Meanwhile, Uncle Ned, who lives in Chicago and usually has to fly home to Baltimore for the holidays but instead gets to fly to Ft. Lauderdale for the holidays, is a happy man. And he hasn’t even gotten to the beach yet!
There’s no reason to be bound by tradition when it comes to subjecting you and your family to snow during the holidays. Instead, try following the sun and see if everyone doesn’t prefer that by a large margin.
