With Christmas less than a week away, I started thinking of all the places I’ve spent the winter holidays. This is a list of the places I’ve enjoyed the most. 

1. Vail, Colorado: I grew up in Vail, so I have fond memories of holidays spent here. Holiday lights, wreaths and fir garlands decorate the village and the free public buses. There are also several large Christmas trees decorated throughout the town and carolers wander the streets. Many of Vail’s first settlers were of Norwegian, Austrian or German descent (and many still live there) so the town often has an old-world European holiday feel at this time of year. I also love skiing in Vail in December because usually by this time Vail’s famously soft “champagne powder” has settled onto the almost 200 ski trails. 
2. Denver, Colorado: This year I’m spending Christmas in Denver and loving it! I’ve spent several Christmases here and I love the massive Christmas tree in the Brown Palace hotel and the holiday lights at Union Station (see attached photo), the 16th Street Mall and the Capitol Building. The Denver Botanic Gardens also sponsors an annual “Blossoms of Light” exhibit by draping lights over the trees and shrubbery to create outdoor art for people to tour in the evenings. For holiday gifts, I go to The Artisan Center (2757 E. Third Ave), which features a variety of quirky handmade gifts and journals or I go to Melt (in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center), a Colorado-based company that sells the best lotions I’ve ever used (try Earth Spirit!). 
3. London, England: I love London year round, but especially during Christmas when the West End (especially Regent and Oxford Streets) resembles a fairy realm with all the Christmas lights and roasted chestnuts are sold on the corners. There’s also a HUGE tree (usually over 20 meters) in Trafalgar Square and there are usually carolers scattered around the city. One thing I haven’t had a chance to do in London during the holidays would be to visit the Geffrye Museum. They transform their 12 period rooms in holiday styles of the past and explain the origins of some holiday traditions like kissing under the mistletoe. 
4. Canterbury, England: I spent the Christmas of 2005 in Canterbury. It was definitely chilly, but what I remember most (aside from jogging in the pre-dawn down winding medieval lanes decked out for the holidays) was the Christmas day mass at Canterbury Cathedral. When the choir started singing it literally sounded angelic (they were very good, but the acoustics in the cathedral made them sound even more impressive with the way sound reverberated off the walls). 
5. Dominican Republic: I spent Christmas in a small batey (sugar mill village) in the countryside. After a holiday dinner, the families in the town went out into the streets and from house to house to visit and say happy holidays. People stayed out late into the night visiting and walking around. There wasn’t much gift-giving because presents are normally given on January 6 (El Dia de los Reyes, Day of the Kings). 
6. San Francisco, California: One of my favorite things to do when I’m in San Francisco during the holidays is visit Union Square. The stores that front the square (including Macy’s and Neiman Marcus) go all out with their window decorations. I also like going across the bay to Alameda to see Thompson Avenue, aka Christmas Lane. People come from all over to see the houses on this street, and each home on the street is responsible for displaying their take on holiday decorations. I’ve gone several times with my family and after we find a place to park (which can be hard) we spend the night walking up and down the street and checking out the “artwork.” 
7. Montefalco, Italy: Montefalco is a small town in Umbria situated atop a 1,500 ft hill. Gabriele D’Annunzio, an Italian author, once wrote that Montefalco was the “city of silence” in which “it seems the extended heavens illuminate the country.” The town was indeed very silent, and time seemed to have stopped. I spent New Year’s there at the Villa Pambuffetti. We were the only guests in the hotel, so we got to stay in a suite in the villa’s tower. I remember waking up on New Year’s Day and looking out the window and feeling like I was standing atop the world because I could see so far. 
8. Boston, Mass: I thought Colorado was cold in the winter. Then I spent Christmas in Boston. Because they receive more humidity, Boston gets a wet kind of cold during the winter, and even if you’re stuffed in so many jackets you look Ralphie’s little brother in “A Christmas Story,” the cold still finds a way to seep into to your bones. That being said, Boston goes all out during the winter holidays, and I especially loved going down to Faneuil Hall, where they have over 100 shops and carts and a number of stores that feature the work of local artisans. Plus there’s a dining hall there where people eat lobsters and chowdah. One thing I would like to do is participate in the Santa Speedo Run, an annual charity event in which participants dash around the back Bay in Speedos and Christmas getups. 
9. Los Angeles, CA: It rains here during the winter (sometimes quite a bit) but that doesn’t stop the festivities. Every year the Department of Water and Power sponsors a light show in Griffith Park. Lines of cars stretch onto the freeway as people wait their turn to see LA landmarks built out of old-fashioned lights. And it wouldn’t be LA without some sort of quirky way of honoring the holidays. This year you could check out other people’s vintage holiday slides and see a vintage holiday ornament light show at the Charles Phoenix Holiday Jubilee in the Disney Concert Hall. There’s also the Rose Bowl Parade and the game on New Year’s Day in Pasadena. Seats to both events are highly coveted (although I think the parade is a bit overrated).