As a non-skier, I'm going to recommend Montreal or Quebec City. They're both beautiful places, with great shopping, cute neighbourhoods, and some old world charm. And like Ginger mentioned, there are some great ski slopes located quite close to each city. Mont Tremblent near Montreal (www.tremblant.ca . . .) and Mont-Sainte-Anne near Quebec City (www.mont-sainte-anne.com . . .).

Here's a fun table put together by the Meteorological Service of Canada - the chance of having a white Christmas for each Canadian city:
www.ec.gc.ca . . .

Climatologically speaking, Montreal has a 68% chance of having a white Christmas, and Quebec City has a 95% chance.

Some places near the Great Lakes get what we call "Lake Effect" snow. Places like Toronto, Rochester, NY and upper New York State are more snowy than places 50-100 miles inland.

Actually, Toronto rarely gets Lake Effect Snow (down near Hamilton or up near the shores of Lake Huron/Georgian Bay is more likely). I wouldn't count on Toronto getting a white Christmas.

Thanks, once again.

Looking at flights in and out now, and where I can actually get to without much hassle.

There're sure to be more questions, though!

Chris

I can't speak for a lot of these places as I haven't been in winter, but Colorado is absolutely beautiful. The only part of it I've been to recently (in winter) is Fort Collins, but we got 8 inches of snow there and it was gorgeous. Boulder and Denver are great cities, too.

Tassiemum, when I saw your lovely gifts from Coccinella, it reminded me of this thread. Which destination did you choose for your white Christmas?

Almost every ski area has instruction and beginner's slopes. I was in my early 30's when I learned to ski as opposed to my grade school years when I occasionally strapped on some primitive skis and simply went headlong down hills. Stopping and turning were only options. With few hills of any size, we were far more into ice skating which was virtually a birthright. I broke my nose ice skating at age 5.

I never gave the origin of Midwest, Middle West et al much thought before the discussion here. I'm from the Midwest (Wisconsin...as far east in that state as possible without getting my feet wet...I lived only a few blocks from Lake Michigan), think of myself as Midwestern, speak Midwestern dialect English (which is pretty much considered the standard American speech - it's what is used in TV, Radio and the movies, even though I've lived on the East Coast for over 2/3rds of my life. It's a hard area to define but I'd say it is roughly from the west side of the Appalachian mountain to a couple hundred miles east of the Rocky Mountains but does not include southern states within that area...e.g KY, TN, AR, TX OK....so Kansas and Missouri north to the Canadian border. For States, I'd say OH, IN, IL, MI, WI, MO, IA, MN, NE, KS, ND, SD. While in Colonial Times, people knew of the US West Coast...it had been explored by the Spanish, Dutch and English and about where it was though there wasn't a reliable method of determining longitude at sea until the late 18th century. The prairie states were considered to be a desert and white settlers had a justifiable fear of American Indians who came late to the realizaton that they had a poor immigration policy. It took the Lewish and Clark expedition to realize just what we had bought from France.

Jon

^^Tansey, we've pretty much decided on Quebec City for Christmas, then New York for New Year's Eve, followed by a couple of days in Disneyland before we warm up in Hawaii for five or so days. We'll miss our summer, so some "tanning time" is essential before our school year starts in February!

Now, my problem is finding flights into QC. My daughter will be finishing high school and doesn't want to miss the last week, so it'll be a long haul straight across both the Pacific and the North American continent to get there before Christmas Eve. Eeeww.

^ But hasn't school already finished? :S

Anyway, I hope you have an awesome White Christmas!

Yay, I was hoping you would pick Quebec. I've done winter vacations in most of the places listed on this thread, and Quebec City is by far my favourite. Let me know if you'd like any suggestions. I'm currently stuck in the Southern Hemisphere for Christmas because of school, and I'm definitely missing the snow.

Feedback data please. How was your white Christmas?

We're travelling next Christmas, so 2012-13 summer for us, winter over there. It takes me a while to process stuff ( ), hence the long lead time; also reasonable accommodation tends to book up quickly.

^Moara, I may well take you up on that offer, but I have to say I'm enjoying the Southern Hemisphere summer weather. Lovely blue skies, warm sun and the occasional thunderstorm to freshen everything up!

I'm from Rhode Island and have lived here my whole life and the one thing I have learned about the weather in New England is it's unpredictable!!!

For example yesterday we had a huge snowstorm...and tomorrow it will be 50*

SO. I agree that to be GUARANTEED a white christmas I would go to a ski resort because you won't be guaranteed it nearly anywhere else.