Courtesy of Melissa Petro
From Elf on the Shelf to cookie swaps, matching pajama sets, ugly sweater office parties, and countless other traditions, the holidays can be the most wonderful — and exhausting — time of the year.
After I sold a book proposal in November 2022, I had no interest in putting up a tree or wasting money on toys my kids didn't need while battling a seemingly endless parade of wintertime illnesses.
Instead, I wanted to celebrate the win and spend meaningful time with my family before having to focus on writing. My husband and I decided to skip the seasonal stress of gifting and spend the money instead on a trip of our lifetime.
Courtesy of Melissa Petro
My husband is part Sri Lankan, and his brother owns a hotel on the island's southernmost tip. Planning an epic trip to Unawatuna, Sri Lanka, made a lot of sense. Because a flight to Sri Lanka from New York takes around 19 hours, we wanted to go for a significant amount of time. All four of our flights cost around $4,000 in total.
Whenever we travel, I prepare my kids by looking at pictures and discussing what we'll see and do. At three and five years old, they were too young to notice that we were skipping most kids' favorite holiday.
Courtesy of Melissa Petro
Taking a monthlong midwinter trip will probably require that you pull your kid out of school. Molly was still in day care, and Oscar's kindergarten attendance is always good, so missing two weeks of classes wasn't a problem. At this time both kids were too young to be seriously invested in participating in the typical end-of-season pageants and fairs.
For the flight, I packed a bag of snacks and another bag of activities like coloring, puzzle books, and playdough — anything that'll strike them as novel when boredom hits. I space out meals, movies, and activities.
We were unsure how our children would manage a long-haul flight, so we opted for an overnight layover in Abu Dhabi. It was the middle of the night when we arrived in the Middle East, but due to the time difference and having slept on the plane, everyone was wide awake.
The hotel we booked had a 24-hour waterpark, so we went for a moonlit swim. The next morning, everyone slept in, and we had enough time to shop at a nearby mall before the next six-hour flight.
Courtesy of Melissa Petro
We had the option to stay with family in a more remote area but chose to rent a two-bedroom Airbnb instead. We wanted to be closer to the beach and have space versus spending the entire trip with relatives. A monthlong stay cost just $1,650 — less than it would've cost to stay in a typical hotel. The property exceeded my expectations.
The house was traditional, with whitewashed cement walls, a thatched roof of woven palm fronds, and polished cement floors. It was surrounded by a walled-in garden with mango trees, coconut palms, colorful flowers, and cement urns holding rainwater occupied by tiny fish.
The property had a private butler who cleaned daily and cared for the garden. Breakfast every morning was included, and he cooked traditional Sri Lankan dinner whenever requested for an extra fee.
I worried that having an unfamiliar adult in our intimate space might feel awkward, but it didn't. He did our laundry by hand, and I appreciated that the house was clean when we returned from a day out. He was sensitive to our privacy and extremely patient with the children — and having his help meant that I actually got a vacation.
Courtesy of Melissa Petro
We spent the last weeks of the year together on the beach instead of visiting Santa and last-minute shopping. We swam in the ocean, made sandcastles, and ate authentic seafood curries poolside at various local resorts. We visited a local street dog rescue and a sea turtle sanctuary.
Courtesy of Melissa Petro
The temperature in Unawatuna in December is between 75 and 86 degrees, so there's no hope for snow — and no disappointment when it doesn't happen. There's no driving through inclement weather, no seasonal spirit days at your kid's day care, and no Secret Santa gifts to buy or toss.
There were occasional reminders of the holiday — twinkle lights on a palm tree or a Christmas carol playing in the background, mostly for tourists' sake — but there isn't the gross display of consumerism that's ubiquitous in the West.
My husband and I felt a little guilty skipping Christmas entirely, so on Christmas Eve, we cut down a branch from the rubber tree out back and ran to the dollar store to buy a few ornaments and some inexpensive trinkets for them to open in the morning.
Considering many families spend thousands of dollars each year on decorations, gifts, meals, and other holiday-related expenses, and then another couple thousand for an annual vacation, rolling it all into one expense made sense for us.
With a minuscule percentage of my typical effort, the kids were just as pleased. As they played with their new toys in the garden, they marveled at how Santa found us all the way in Sri Lanka.
