THERE's a stark difference between east and west coast school holidays this year. Edinburgh schoolchildren get under their parents' feet from December 18; hardworking Glaswegian weans don't get off school till Christmas Eve.
Habitual last-minute Christmas shoppers from either locale could try mixing business with pleasure at Edinburgh's ''open all hours'' Winter Wonderland on Princes Street (0131 226 2151). Let the Christmas Fair solve your gift problems, then dump your bags at the left-luggage facility and head on to the ice for a triple sulko. No, the gritters aren't on strike. Princes Street Gardens is the idyllic setting for the UK's largest open-air ice rink, accommodating up to 250 skaters. The rink is open until Monday, January 4.
Shine On Glasgow has a variety of communal activities and professional street entertainment running at all main thoroughfares daily until Christmas Eve. And if panto gets you into the festive spirit (oh yes it does), there's Merlin the Magnificent at the Citizens' until December 26; Sleeping Beauty at the King's in Glasgow until January 16; and Aladdin, last year's King's hit, transferring this year to its namesake in Edinburgh, until January 17.
Creative five to 14-year-olds can get stuck into Christmas-card and decoration making at the Scotland Street
School Museum (0141 429 1202) tomorrow.
Santa will be visiting Palacerigg Country Park in Cumbernauld (01236 720047) tomorrow and Sunday. You can also see him with his
all-important reindeer at the Scottish Deer Centre in Fife (01337 810391) this weekend, and from Monday to Christmas Eve. While you're there, enjoy live music, Punch and Judy, magic shows, and circus skills workshops. But for a Santa you're unlikely to forget in a hurry, try Deep Sea World in North Queensferry, Fife (01383 411411).
Witness the return of the deep-sea diving Santa, resplendent in his red suit and diving mask, answering children's questions through an intercom in the
walk-through perspex underwater tunnel.
With its traditional helter-skelter and completely new range of juvenile rides, the Vimto Christmas and New Year Carnival at the SECC (0141 204 1234) is Europe's largest fun fair. SECC also plays host to Alien War, a terrifying interactive theatrical experience, and less terrifyingly, Bobby Roberts's Circus. The festive fun runs from today until January 17 (except Christmas Day), apart from The Happy Gang, who will be there too until Tuesday.
After the big day, don't think you can just lounge about. Get up! There's tons
to do.
The kids can run off excess steam at the Ramblers' Association Festival of Winter Walks (01592 611 177, www.ramblers.org.uk), featuring 20 walks all over Scotland. On December 27 two countryside nine-mile hikes set off from Glasgow (0141 429 0893) and Edinburgh (0131 334 5868). Mercat Tours organise more leisurely strolls around Old and New Town (0131 225 6591). Scotland Information Centre (0131 473 3800) can tell you about other great hill walks or coastline routes.
New Year's Day sees the arrival of the latest Star Trek feature: Insurrection (PG). Stay-at-homes can check out the top children's video titles this Christmas, which include Little Mermaid, Mousehunt, and George of the Jungle, not forgetting the Teletubbies.
After the 12th day of Christmas, kill two birds with one stone at Pollok Country Park. (No, not a Neanderthal pheasant shoot.) Clear your head with a walk, and clear your conscience by recycling your Christmas tree at the park's Riverside car park.
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