Explore America’s Most Magical Christmas Towns From Snowy Villages to Year-Round Holiday Cheer
It may be too late for less spontaneous travelers to start planning a Christmas vacation. But that shouldn’t stop you from
month-long festival takes place every December and features picturesque events, including a ballerina-filled tree lighting ceremony, visits from Santa, culinary delights, traditional Danish celebrations, and much more! Woodstock, Vermont During Woodstock’s Wassail Weekend, you’ll find the town in peak Christmas mode, where you can experience parades, horse-drawn carriages, carolers, and the Billings Farm, a local favorite of the season. Stroll down Main Street to witness an idyllic Christmas spot filled with cozy small-town shops and restaurants. North Pole, Alaska If you ever feel like celebrating Christmas in the middle of summer, we know the perfect destination. North Pole, Alaska, offers Christmas decor and festivities year-round! Here, you can get up close and personal with Santa’s reindeer, meet the man himself, and enjoy the snow that covers the entire town. Be sure to check out their ice sculpture competition, which features artists from all over the world! Ready for the Christmas celebration of your dreams? Start planning your next holiday vacation at any of these destinations, and we promise your dreams will most definitely come true!
planning next year’s holiday journey! The good news is you don’t need to venture to another continent to find a Christmas wonderland. There are countless
picture-perfect Christmas towns across the country. Make your next Christmas trip feel like a
Hallmark movie at one of these festive towns! Leavenworth, Washington
Many have dubbed Leavenworth the most Christmas-centric in the U.S., and it’s easy to see why. This Bavarian-style village experiences nearly 96 inches of snowfall every year, and they certainly don’t hold back when it comes to the holidays. The town lights up and decorates almost 21 miles, where you can find reindeer farms, carolers, gingerbread competitions, and Christmas markets. Every step of the way offers an Instagram-worthy photo opportunity! Solvang, California A slice of Denmark right in sunny California, Solvang brings endless holiday cheer, especially with their annual Julefest. Pronounced “Yule-fest,” this
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Experience Shows Estate Planning Is Rarely Easy
Attorney Craig Hersch shows how a request for a “simple” estate plan can get complicated quickly. Read Craig’s full blog on the Sheppard Law Firm Blog at FloridaEstatePlanning.com. When a new client first visits with me to update their estate plan, it isn’t unusual for them to say, “I just want to keep it simple.” The irony of that statement is that almost none of my clients have “simple” situations. If all I had in my estate was a checking and savings account of less than $100,000, and if I want to leave it all to my wife, then all I do is own the account jointly with her as “husband and wife.” But that’s not what most people have nor is it what they really want. What they want are several things. Privacy: This usually requires using a trust instead of a will. They have a certain idea of how they want to take care of their loved ones when they’re no longer around and don’t want their family to scramble in a crisis. Protection: They want to protect the inheritance they leave their children from a divorcing spouse, a business lawsuit, or creditors.
Lower Taxes: Even though federal estate tax exemptions are high and don’t affect many, income tax planning is becoming more important as many clients have significant balances in their IRA and 401(k) accounts. No Court Processes: No one wants unnecessary court processes to interfere with their lives, such as guardianship and probate. Good Family and Financial Dynamics: Our families grow with the birth of new children and grandchildren, and our adult children’s needs change as they raise their own families. Some clients are part of a blended family. These clients generally want to take care of one another but then have assets eventually filter back to their respective bloodlines. If Janet names George as her primary beneficiary, this is simple, right? But assume George survives Janet. He rolls over the IRA account and may select anyone he wants to be his beneficiary. In other words, he has no obligation, absent a nuptial agreement, that expressly speaks to that point to name Janet’s children. This is where having relationships with qualified professionals will keep things “simple.” A good estate plan is well thought out, where different scenarios are considered to ensure the plan remains consistent with the client’s intent.
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