My family and I took our first ever Christmas Week Vacation. We gave the children some ski and snowboard equipment as a Christmas gift and we were anxious to let them try it out.
We stayed at the Attitash Mountain Village in Bartlett, N.H., directly across the street from the Attitash Ski area. Our unit was so much better than we had anticipated; we had been warned by a family that had stayed here before us that the units were quite small, and had been worried about that since we'd invited some friends to stay overnight and didn't know if we would all fit. Everything worked out well, however, as our one-bedroom was quite large and one of the newest units. My 8-year-old son was thrilled with the big screen TV in the bedroom and the in-bedroom two-person jacuzzi.
The murphy bed and pull-out couch fit our friends and their three children, while the king-size bed and twin pull-out couch fit my family perfectly. I wouldn't recommend doing this for more than one night though--it was a little crowded but no one had to sleep on the floor!
Mother nature graced us with a foot of snow on Christmas Day and the kids had a blast snowshoeing and making snow angels. We spent one day skiing at the Attitash ski area but spent the other days skiing at Bretton Woods ski area about 20-minutes away. Attitash was a little steep for beginners but Bretton Woods is an outstanding family ski area, with a beginners' slope that kids can ski on all day for free with a paying adult. It was just the right size to satisfy my son and I could watch him from my cozy perch at the lodge.
If you do go to the Attitash Mountain Village, ask for a Phase II unit--they're the newer and more spacious ones. They obviously did alot of planning when building them, as the room layout was great for entertaining and it was well insulated for sound--there were other families in neighboring units, but we didn't hear a thing! The heat was controlled by gas fireplaces on both floors, which was nice, though once the rooms met the thermostat temperature, the fires went out. The staff was very friendly and helpful as well. We will definitely stay here again.