If you can't make it to the North Pole, there is always the Christmas Barn at Bredbo, a red-and-green, candy-sticked anomaly against the bone-dry paddocks of the Monaro plains.
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Step through the doors and it's a festive assault of the senses - Christmas trees of every hue, decorations from floor-to-ceiling, Bing Crosby crooning a Christmas tune or two and, if you're lucky, Santa strolling through the aisles, overseeing the work of his elves.
Former Canberra couple Neville and Leanne de Smet are celebrating their 14th year running the Christmas Barn in Bredbo, a speck of a village south of Canberra on the Monaro Highway. Bredbo boasts about 350 residents, just a fraction of the thousands of visitors who visit the Christmas Barn each year.
"Oh, it's Christmas - what's not to like?" Mrs de Smet said, as people thronged through the store.
"Everything about Christmas is great - the music, the food, the people. Everyone is happy at Christmas time.
"We only get happy people in here. Anyone who's not happy just drives on by."
The de Smets moved to Bredbo for a tree-change.
"Or a Christmas tree change," Mr de Smet said, with a big smile.
The de Smets next year celebrate 40 years in small business, originally opening Unique Boutique in Woden in 1979 and remaining there for 27 years. The Christmas barn was supposed to be their "semi-retirement".
"We're busier than ever," Mrs de Smet said.
The shop is open from June 1 to December 23, taking advantage of Christmas in July, traffic to the snow and people who want to lay-by for Christmas. It's a family concern with the de Smet's daughter Carly and son-in-law Ben also helping to run the business.
It takes four months to set up the shop. There are 70 Christmas trees to decorate, for a start. Pink Christmas trees are big this year. The couple tries to keep the products constantly refreshed.
"We've already got stock for next year," Mr de Smet said, declining to count exactly how many things are in the barn.
"We have lots of items.
"We just work for Santa and we have people from all over the place come here.
"Someone drove from Adelaide. Another person who used to live in Canberra flew from Queensland.
"It's just surprised us, the reaction of people who love it. We have people who come in and cry. Cry with joy."
Busloads of nursing home residents are common, as are South Coast residents, often elderly on their way to Canberra for medical treatment.
"They say it makes them feel better," Mrs de Smet said.
And don't get them started on Christmas Scrooges aka the politically-correct who'd erase any reference to Christmas in deference to others.
"The more a minority call for the end to Christmas, the more people want to celebrate it," Mrs de Smet said.
"We have Jewish, Hindu, Muslim people come in here and they don't turn to stone. They enjoy it too.
"They can enjoy the festival of Christmas even if its not celebrating the Holy Family, they can celebrate their own family."
