Indiana winter getaways.

• Author: Land, Jennifer

'Tis the season for holiday events and family fun.

It's time to doff that down comforter and don the down jacket. Indiana has something for everyone this holiday season.

While families can frolic at holiday festivals, pet reindeers at the zoo and meet Santa at the museum, couples can hit the slopes, comb the stores and curl up in cozy cabins. So put on your hiking boots for a trek through Indiana's trail of wintry treats and retreats.

FIRST STOP: HOLIDAY FESTIVALS

For the history buffs, it's a Victorian wonderland. If you're bound for Indianapolis, follow Charles Dickens and Ebenezer Scrooge on a guide through the Pages of Christmas Past, presented at the Morris-Butler House through Dec. 21. Then head over to the Benjamin Harrison mansion, which stages its Victorian Christmas Presidential Style through Dec. 31. Or if you're destined to Evansville, tour the historic Reitz home and its rendition of a Victorian Christmas through Dec. 30.

Michigan City's Christmas at Barker Mansion will show Victorian decorations until Jan. 5. Other historic Christmas stops include Rockville's A Drive through Christmas Past, New Albany's Culbertson Mansion 20th Annual Christmas Open House, Nashville's Christmas in Brown County and New Harmony's candlelight tours. And if all this traveling leaves your stomach grumbling, catch a catered dinner at A Victorian Christmas Celebration in the Elkhart County town of Bristol.

When you're ready to return to the present, look for high-tech lights to lead the way. As usual, almost every county has cloaked its cities with a blanket of lights. Columbus has strung lights along its riverfront at Mill Race Park. And in Evansville, it's the Ritzy's Fantasy of Lights festival, where lights will come alive in the form of flying reindeer, dancing bears and 35 other lighted and animated displays.

If frostbite hasn't struck yet, you can meander through a Christmas scene on one of Indiana's many tours or walks. Madison, Rockville, Morgantown, Newburgh and Vevay will host tours of homes, while Terre Haute, Freemont and Metamora will offer Christmas walks.

Shoppers can peruse one of Indiana's many holiday craft shows and fairs. The Old Fashioned Arts & Crafts Christmas in Rockville takes place the first full weekend of December. Meanwhile, Elkhart's Christmas Market will vie for your attention with pump organ music, window painting and train rides for tots.

If you merely want to browse, wander through Fort Wayne's Festival of...