re: Christmas in Vermont

Have done family VT trip over Christmas twice in recent years, and both times we stayed near Stowe. Stowe IMO is definitely the right choice for the home base..but my advice would be to focus more on finding an ideal Christmas ("Hallmark") house/cabin for your group, thats within even 15-20 minutes of town-

the kind of place where you've got mountain views out the windows, maybe an outdoor firepit/patio (weather permitting), a comfortable living room with a nice fireplace and TV (Christmas movies..or football), and plenty of room for a tree (which you can easily find at a local tree farm)

Once you've got a house booked that everyone is excited about, the rest becomes pretty easy....can spend a little of each day in Stowe (dinner, shopping, walking around etc)..and also venture to places like Burlington and even Woodstock/Killington if you so choose.

On the most recent trip we did Stowe house for 3-4 nights, then on the 26th (this is pre-covid BS) we drove up to Montreal for a a few nights ... there and/or Boston are both great add-ons if you can make the flights and rental car logistics work.