Kingsmill offers plenty to keep your brood happy, including an indoor pool and mammoth game room.

Splendor on the James: Kingsmill Resort

My girls are no hothouse flowers. They cavort with creatures large and small in the insect kingdom, make shoestring tackles in football and generally pummel their older brother when he forgets his place in the offspring hierarchy.

Which is why I find it improbable that my girls, ages 12 and 9, would even consider a day at the spa. But this is Kingsmill Resort & Spa, and the treatments for kids have names like the Just 4 U Facial and the BFF Mani Pedi, so it’s clear why my tomboys sit in reclining spa chairs with cucumber slices covering their eyes while getting a pedicure: It’s eminently cool.

It also speaks volumes about the affability of Kingsmill, which sits along the James River in Williamsburg, Va., that two shin-kicking children feel comfortable letting strangers tuck cotton between their toes. This is a resort that manages to straddle the high-end world of resort golf (three championship courses designed by Pete Dye, Arnold Palmer, Tom Clark and Curtis Strange) with the bring-the-family mentality of getaways that feature half the amenities. It’s a formula that allows guests the relief of not feeling buttoned up when they retreat for a long weekend.

Even during the chilly months, Kingsmill can keep families occupied. Interior spaces include a racquetball/basketball court, game room, gym and pool. Full disclosure: We have no idea what the rules are for racquetball, but the friendly staff member at the gym hands us racquets, goggles and balls, and sends us on our way—where we slam the high walls in the echo chamber for two hours of intensity only broken by fits of laughter. Play doubles; you won’t regret it.

Golf, of course, infuses the place with civility, and it’s the reason to venture here—even in winter. (The courses are open; military and first-responders can play the Plantation and Woods courses for $40 a person through Nov. 15; normal fees are $100 and $120, respectively.) Want to lose the duffer moniker for next spring and summer? The resort offers a year-round golf academy that delves into the biomechanics of the game, in addition to the back-to-basics tweaking of how to strike the ball. They’ll also assess balance and flexibility.

And the golf team here has a killer app: kinesthetic training via a K-vest, a 3-D wireless-motion tool that captures data about range of motion and spits out a cold, hard conclusion: The PGA is light years away. But improvement is possible, especially when the kids are deep into the rigors of a pedicure.

KingsMill for the Holidays

Rooms at Kingsmill—one-, two- and three-bedroom options—are flexible enough for family gatherings. Some options in the months ahead:

Thanksgiving Package includes two nights, breakfast for four each morning, Thanksgiving buffet dinner for four and complimentary transportation to Colonial Williamsburg ($569 for four people).

Christmas Town Package includes one night, breakfast and complimentary shuttle service to Busch Gardens and Colonial Williamsburg ($99 per person per night).

Holiday Traditions Package includes two nights in a two-bedroom suite, lighted Christmas tree, breakfast, Christmas buffet dinner, a holiday family photo taken by the resort’s on-site photographer and complimentary transportation to nearby Colonial Williamsburg ($979 for four people).

Colonial Williamsburg

Williamsburg is big on tradition, and the holidays deliver:

Foods & Feasts of Colonial Virginia, Nov. 25–27. Learn how colonists in the Jamestown settlement gathered and preserved food, and explore the
culinary differences between the Powhatan Indians and English colonists.

 Busch Gardens Christmas Town, Nov. 26 through Dec. 31. It was a big hit in its first season last year, so it’s back with Germany’s Mistletoe Marketplace (handmade gifts from local artisans), Santa’s Fireside Feast (grub in the grand dining room of Ireland’s Castle O’Sullivan) and the head rush of the new ride, Europe in the Air.

Grand Illumination, Dec. 5. This kicks off the holiday season in Colonial Williamsburg on Duke of Gloucester Street with fife-and-drum-corps music, lighting of window candles, and fireworks launched from the Palace, the Magazine and the Capitol.

A Colonial Christmas, Dec. 1–31. See the holidays through the eyes of a Revolutionary War soldier or colonial farmer at Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center. Check out colonial residences dressed for the holidays and sip hot apple cider on the steps of Charlton’s Coffee House.

More details: visitwilliamsburg.com