Winter is the time of year when families tend to focus their vacations on either embracing the snowy weather by heading up to a ski resort or escaping the winter chill with a tropical beach vacation.

While these trips certainly result in some family fun, I think that big cities, which are often overlooked in the winter months, offer some terrific vacation opportunities as well. Hotel rates are often lower during the winter months, and cities offer all sorts of seasonal fun.

Bundle up in your pea coat, mittens, and that brand new scarf you got for Christmas and enjoy what three of my favorite cities – San Francisco, Chicago and New York City – have to offer this winter!

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If there’s one thing I can tell you with no fear of contradiction, it’s that children really do grow up fast. Your time traveling together will dwindle over the years, and that’s why it’s so important to make every trip count.

Whether you’re planning a traditional, yearly theme park trip or an overseas adventure, here are a few goals you could set for the coming year.

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It’s no secret that Christmas is an incredibly popular season for travel, both in the U.S. and beyond. After all, kids are on a break from school and most people get time off from work; even the Scroogiest of bosses understands the value of a good holiday.

While there’s something to be said for remote vacation destinations – places where we can unplug, unwind and take a break from our workaday lives – the popular Christmas travel destinations in the U.S. are popular for good reasons. When considering where to go for your Christmas holiday vacation, consider the fun winter activities these popular destinations have to offer.

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When our kids were younger, we used to pull them out of school to travel a couple of times a year. Theme parks and ski resorts were nicer on weekdays, and airline award travel was easier when we could borrow a school day here and there. Now that they’re older, we almost never do it. School is harder, of course, and our family calendar is a slow-motion relay race of play rehearsals, music lessons and sports practices.

As far as long trips go, that leaves us with summer vacation, spring break and Christmas. This year, for the first time ever, we’re traveling over Christmas. In fact, we’ll be flying home from Ecuador on Christmas Day. We carefully weighed the pros and cons and decided that Galapagos was worth it.

If you’re skipping Christmas like we are (or technically just rescheduling it by a few days), here are a few tips to make it a success.

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