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ASPEN, COLORADO

The glitz and glamour of Aspen, Colorado, only escalates during the holiday season as the chic alpine town transforms into a living snow globe. The veritable winter wonderland creates the perfect backdrop for a storybook horse and carriage ride and incredible skiing and snowboarding that’s followed by an elevated, and often rowdy, aprèsski scene. Join a fashionable crowd that indulges in Champagne-fueled parties at the bottom of the slopes, people-watch on the patio of the glamorously casual Ajax Tavern at The Little Nell, or cozy up at J-Bar in the landmark Hotel Jerome. Head to downtown, lined with snow-cloaked trees and dangling lights, for a hub of luxury shopping — whether you’re customizing a Stetson hat at legendary Kemo Sabe or picking up a designer coat or handbag. Ring in the New Year watching the fireworks erupt in an array of colors over Aspen Mountain for the ultimate Rocky Mountain high.

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

Yuletide spirit reigns supreme in Charleston, South Carolina, with gilded mansions, storefronts, and churches draped in holiday finery and a 40-foot tree holding court in the Market Street Circle. Celebrate the season with guided holiday walking tours that take guests past beautifully adorned homes and landmarks, and snow magically falls on Market Street Circle nightly until the end of the year. At the epicenter of the festivities is The Charleston Place, downtown’s landmark hotel and holiday headquarters, which will transform into a Nutcracker-themed world with appearances by ballerinas from the Dance Conservatory of Charleston through New Year’s Eve. Bask in the wonder of the season with the cherished pastime of afternoon tea at the Thoroughbred Club, and don’t miss the hotel’s beloved train display in the lobby. A longtime family tradition in Charleston, drive through the Holiday Festival of Lights in James Island County Park through Dec. 31., 2023 to peep two million dazzling lights.

CAPE MAY, NEW JERSEY

Gas-lit streets, opulent Victorian-style homes, and the sounds of carolers wafting through the air — the small coastal town of Cape May, New Jersey feels as if it’s been ripped from a Dickens tale during the holidays. As America’s only National Historic Landmark City, relish in its holiday lights and old-fashioned traditions with tours and events presented by Cape May MAC (Museums+Arts+Culture) that run through the new year. Zip around on open-air trolley rides to see the twinkling lights or choose from different tours that roam through Victorian homes, inns, bed and breakfasts, and churches that are decked out for the holidays. The most popular is the Christmas Candlelight House Tour, which has been a staple for 50 years and offers an authentic taste of Cape May.

Until September 1957, they were just two “kids,” two 17-year-olds from opposite sides of Columbus who had never met. That changed the first week of their freshmen year at Ohio State University when a friend introduced Barbara Bash to Jack Nicklaus on the steps of Mendenhall Lab. Jack, the son of a successful pharmacist and the multi-sport star from Upper Arlington High School, was immediately smitten with Barbara, the daughter of a high school math teacher and the girl from North High on the other side of Route 315. Jack wasted no time in asking for a date, and as he recalls, “Barbara eventually fit me into her schedule after a couple of weeks.” It was the first chapter in a love story that continues to write and re-write itself.

Just under three years after that meeting on the campus of Ohio State, the two were married on July 23, 1960—of course, picking a Saturday that coincided with the PGA Championship because Jack, a fast-rising amateur golfer, was not eligible to play in that major championship. Fourteen months later—to the day—Barbara and Jack Nicklaus started their family with the birth of Jack Nicklaus II. It was a family that would eventually burgeon to five children and, decades later, 24 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

It seemed like the perfect storybook family from Middle America until one day in 1966.

It was then that their only daughter Nan, just 11 months old at the time, gave these young parents the biggest scare of their young lives. Jack and Barbara’s baby girl was at times struggling to breathe and was suffering repeated choking episodes. Baffled, they took Nan to Columbus Children’s Hospital—now Nationwide Children’s—and doctors, using an adult bronchoscope, discovered that Nan had inhaled a blue crayon. The crayon eventually broke into pieces, fell into her lungs, and led to pneumonia. Mom and Dad endured anxiety-filled days until doctors and nurses essentially saved Nan’s life.

This story had a happy ending, but the emotional impact of these moments has never been forgotten, and it immediately began to shape the Nicklaus family’s future.

“It was then that we pledged to each other that if we were ever in a position to help others, we wanted to help children,” Jack and Barbara Nicklaus said. “It is said there is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. So early in our lives, we wanted to extend that hand to lift up children.”

To the rest of the world, Nan’s father is golf icon Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear and the greatest champion in the history of the game, and Barbara Nicklaus is the First Lady of Golf who has been decorated with some of the game’s most prestigious awards. To Nan, however, Jack and Barbara are just Dad and Mom—and they are her heroes.

But Jack and Barbara aren’t heroes to only Nan. Their gratitude for the lifesaving care she received and the subsequent pledge sparked a lifelong passion and commitment to champion the well-being of children everywhere. It eventually led them to establish the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation in 2004. Since then, they’ve helped children and families around the world access cutting-edge pediatric healthcare.