Thumper–we did a four day San Antionio trip last Nov (and I highly recommend it to anyone). I will share my recommendations that we did in San Antionio as I can’t help but notice it is getting many mentions in the “three places you want to go” thread!–Stayed at the Mansion on the Riverwalk, ate excellent food (Bella, Biga on the Banks, Ostra, Paesanos, Bohanans, Acenar and Iron Cactus were all excellent!) boat tour, the Alamo, la Villita, Pearl brewery, trolley tour, and a walking tour of the German part of town with brunch at the highly recommended Guenther House (strangely the only thing I would rate as just so-so that we did)
They were setting up for Christmas in Nov and I then had to added “San Antonio at Christmas” to my travel list. We would just stay one night to eat on the river and see the lights!
The trip down the CA coast sounds wonderful. But alas driving…wonder if uber would take us?! Lol.
There is a lovely AmTrak train along the Pacific Coast. We’ve taken it and loved it!
We had airtickets when we got bumped off a flight years ago we had to use by December… We thought where have we not been? We went to NYC at Christmas time. The hotels during Christmas week and after were very reasonable like from Dec 21 to Dec 29. Not at New Years time. It really was a magical vacation. All taxi or walking. A couple Broadway shows that we could get tickets at a reasonable rate we saw. Room service for Christmas day with spaghetti, we never had room service before. We have traveled with the family extensively and we still talk about how much fun this trip was. The throngs of shoppers are gone after Christmas. The ice skating at Rockafeller center around the tree was cool and we visited the SNL tour.
@katie93mom well…at least my idea was a good one 
Someone upstream suggested Savannah or Charleston. What about one of those!
NYC during Christmas is beautiful. Everything is decked out
We’re near Austin and planning on renting a beach house in Galveston over New Year’s for the Parade of Lights and checking out the ice sculptors at Moody Gardens. I think the kids will have a blast with the arctic ice slid and outdoor ice skating. We also hope to go the the New Years Party at the Hotel Galvez.
Honestly, consider going somewhere in Europe. Germany would be fun with many places having Christmas markets but so would Paris and many other places. Airfares are fairly reasonable lately and the dollar is still benefitting from strength vs. the euro and pound (if you want to do England/Scotland).
I like to get some bang for my vacation buck.
That train ride along the Pacific coast is great. Many don’t realize how close it runs by the ocean, on the lower end. Nothing like it. I’ve done it all the way up toward SF, but even just from San Diego to Orange County or LA is nice. Lots to do in SD,
I think the Christmas markets in Germany are done by Christmas eve.
We rode the train from LA to Seattle and had a sleeper car for the 4 of us, then drove back via national parks, staying on site. You get the best daytime views going north rather than south. A national park person boards the train in WA or OR and talks about the area the train is passing. Food on the train is good.
Overall, I’ve done it between SD and SF, yes, going north. In contrast, I think driving through Big Sur itself is better from north to south, more spectacular. HImom, I may PM you at some point, later, about the leg to Seattle.
Big Sur Lodge is decorated out and fun. The view from Nepenthe Restaurant which serves California fare is spectacular. I agree however that Christmas in Austria, Vienna and Saltzburg is on my bucket list.
Big Sur and Nepenthe are the reason I thought I’d fly to SF this winter and drive south.
@lookingforward Gotta agree, Big Sur and Nepenthe are tough to beat. We went during the holiday season, and it was spectacular. Consider a stop up on Avenue of the Giants. Those Sequoia Sempervirens that are 3,000 years old are worth a trip further north to Humboldt County.
DD took the train from the Bay Area to Chicago. That was a three day trip…sleeper car…gorgeous scenery. I would love to do that one day. Would this be an option…with a couple of nights then in Chicago and a fly back to Texas?
Train trips sound great (friends took one across Canada that looked great, one from SF to Denver thru some mountain passes only accessible by the train, and now the CA coastline) all on my future list. Just not sure they are what we want for Christmas…I usually flounder for about 24 hours and find a perfect destination…this one is frustrating me!!