Tanning in lounge chairs onboard a mammoth cruise ship or snorkeling in deep azure waters near white sandy beaches aren't usual Christmas visions. While most families will enjoy opening presents and homemade dinners this Christmas season, others will opt for less traditional approaches, including trips to the tropics, ski resorts or even just the local movie theater.

Many Christmas non-traditionalists believe the best way of bringing the family together is getting away together. Several families, for instance, view Christmas break as an opportunity to pack up the family and venture to warmer climates, ensuring all dreams of a white Christmas remain dreams and not realities.

Mindy Jackson, a 21-year-old athletic training major from Holladay, will trade her eggnog for virgin piña coladas this Christmas as she and 17 members of her family celebrate the holiday on the big island of Hawaii. Time-share restrictions and reduced airfare resulted in her family's decision to leave cold weather and make the five-hour flight over the Pacific on Christmas day.

"My initial thought is that it's going to be weird without snow," Jackson said, "But it should be just like any other Christmas because we'll all be together."

Brooke Burgeson, a 21-year-old elementary education major from Phoenix, Ariz., is another BYU student whose family will skip gray skies and whiteouts for bronzing ultraviolet rays this Christmas. Burgeson will join a 30-person party of extended family to deck the halls of an eastern Caribbean cruise ship.

Burgeson explained, however, that tropical Christmas vacations have not been the norm in her family.

"Since we're all grown up now, this [trip] is way better than just sitting around at home opening presents," Burgeson said. "This is a different kind of memory, and I think we'll always look back and remember how much fun it was."

Other families, however, aren't so keen on abandoning the winter weather.

Melody Odell, a 24-year-old public relations major from Yucaipa, Calif., travels with her family to Mammoth Mountain, Calif., each Christmas for almost unlimited skiing and snowboarding.

While the majority of families are together carving up turkeys at home, the Odell family is together carving up the slopes at their favorite ski resort.

"It's fun being locked up with my family in a cabin," Odell said. "It's a neat tradition we have."

The Montague family also recognizes the perks of Christmas day alpine excursions. Stephen Montague, a 23-year-old advertising major from Pittsburg, Kan., said he loved his family's Christmas vacation to Oregon's Mt. Hood Ski Resort.

"It was awesome," Montague said. "We just drove up there on Christmas Eve, stayed the night and skied all day at a mostly-empty resort. It's good bonding time, being away from everyone else."

For Erin Davis, a 21-year-old business management major from Idaho Falls, Idaho, Christmas just isn't Christmas without the 14 stadium-seating theaters at her local Edwards Cinemas.

For as long as Davis can remember, her family has been catching Christmas Eve matinees at the local movie theater.

"It's a good opportunity to get together with close friends and family and give everyone a break from cooking and decorating," Davis said. "It's just something to look forward to every year."

Copyright Brigham Young University 13 Dec 2006