The Sea Islands at Christmas

The Georgia and north Florida sea islands run December in the sixties, live oaks strung with lights instead of snow, and the three-island run down the coast, the great resort, the state park island, the Victorian port, makes the South's most temperate holiday address, fireplaces lit more for ceremony than necessity and the beaches open for Christmas-morning walks. The route wants three or four nights in the first three weeks of December.

Start at the resort that treats the season as a production, the great lodge and its oaks dressed to the last bulb, holiday teas and carols in the halls, and the family programs running at the together-apart rhythm the logistics pages prescribe. One dressed dinner by the fire opens the trip at the correct register, and the beach, wide and mild, resets everyone by morning.

Move down the causeway to the state-owned island, where the millionaires' historic district drapes its cottages and the great clubhouse turret in lights, an island-wide drive-through and trolley light show runs through the season, and the driftwood beach, per the island's winter piece, does its silver sculpture garden business for free. The shrimp and grits come festival-grade here in any month.

Finish over the Florida line in the Victorian port town, whose brick blocks keep a Dickens-flavored December, carolers and lamplit shopfronts on the historic streets, the shrimping fleet lit in the harbor, and the grand old inns pouring sherry against sixty-degree cold snaps. Take the last golden hour on the winter beach, shoes optional, per the island's standing terms. The postcard Christmas asks for snow, and these islands decline politely, annually, and with lights on every oak, which is its own kind of carol.