Though the weather outside is frightful – it’s not snowing and the prospects for any significant snowfall in the immediate future are grim – the Lake Tahoe area is still a delightful place to visit during the year-end holiday season.

From visits by Santa to children’s activities, from ice-skating to caroling, from wine tasting to concerts, the resorts and towns surrounding Big Blue have a little something for everyone. There’s even human-manufactured snow at most winter mountain resorts to satisfy your ski or snowboard jones.

The Resort at Squaw Creek, which for the seventh consecutive December is producing its popular Magical Memories holiday program, will be the one-night home of the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, which will perform selections from Handel’s “Messiah” and other holiday favorites on Friday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 for adults, $5 for students and free for kids under 12.

The Village at Northstar conducts its annual Noel Nights on Thursday evenings throughout the month. On Thursday, Dec. 15, revelers can catch a complimentary sleigh ride, chat with Santa, practice triple toe-loops on the skating rink (free rentals with canned food donation) and be serenaded by X.ado, an a capella group from Dartmouth College.  Bring a canned food donation to the season pass office and get a chance to score some tasty comestibles in the Wine Basket Raffle.

Karla Robinson, an up-and-coming 19-year-old country/pop singer from the Sierra foothill town of Newcastle, will demonstrate her talents at Sugar Bowl this weekend (Dec. 17-18) from 2-5 p.m. Robinson also will give afternoon performances at Sugar Bowl on Dec. 22-23 and Dec. 29-30.

Sierra-at-Tahoe resort will conduct four days of kid-centric activities – a visit from Santa Claus, music, sack races, snowman-building competition, a gingerbread man piñata, etc. – on Dec. 23-24 and Dec. 26-27.

Santa, who really gets around this time of year, will be taking up residence in his Workshop Snow Globe at the Heavenly Village in South Lake Tahoe, where kids can have their photos taken with him. On Christmas Eve, listen to holiday music performed on string and wind instruments by the Dickens Boys. After Christmas, the village will be the site of nightly concerts, featuring Jelly Bread on Dec. 26, Lavish Green on Dec. 27, The Trey Stone Band on Dec. 28 and Tragically White on Dec. 29.

But, the best show of all would be an old-fashioned, Sierra-style White Christmas. Fingers crossed.