Note the advice offered by Carol Sottili on where to ski in December in the Mid-Atlantic. She recommends Canaan Valley over Snowshoe, Wisp, or 7 Springs:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12911-2004Jun3.html

Obviously, she does not ski often during this time period. As someone who has been skiing in December actively during the past 4 years, I can safely say that Snowshoe, Wisp, and 7 Springs are much safer bets. Why? Superior snowmaking!

If you look at this story:

http://www.dcski.com/news/2003/12_08_2003/earlyseason.php3

You'll notice that both 7 Springs and Snowshoe had 13 or more trails open on 8 December 2003. Canaan Valley, by contrast, only had 3 beginner slopes available. Even Whitetail had more terrain open, including the intermediate Angel Drop. Before the Post offers such advice, it should at least consult the DCSki news vault for some statistics on that time period.

Snowshoe not only has more "bells and whistles" to quote the Post, its got more snow.

i say take what you would spend going to snowshoe and head west. it will be much better than anything in the east. and the past few years when i have been west in dec ive had huge dumps. i dont mean just snow i mean snow measuerd in feet.
dec 02- lake tahoe close to 10 feet of snow the week i went
dec 03- utah 70 inches in just over 70 hours. it doesnt get any better than that. trust me.
to top it all off i spent less going to utah than it would have cost to go to snowshoe. and i live in central nc. im talknig all cost.

oh just so yall know im not knocing on any resorts in the southeast. they just dont compare to the west, and it doesnt cost much more to head west. thats if you live in nc and have to commute all the way to snowshoe then pay those outrageous prices and all that stuff.
any1 wanna head to snowbird right now i know i do.

I agree that the West is the place to go but given that her relatives are flying in from Australia and time I suspect will be limited, they probably want something local. Therefore, I'd send them to either Snowshoe or 7 Springs because year after year, these two resorts have done the best job of getting a lot of terrain open early in the season. Just look at DCSki news vault if you don't believe me.

A wild card is Whitetail. I've experienced stellar conditions there in December during cold years. If the air is cold, Whitetail can blow more snow than just about any comparable resort in the world. It truly has one of the most impressive snowmaking operations I have seen. If time is really limited, they might hedge their bets and book last minute because Whitetail really is outstanding midweek under the right conditions. I once took a day off in December after a cold snap to ski at Whitetail and it was one of my best days ever: Vail-like conditions just 1.5 hours from home... Nothing close comes close.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Wisp. Yes Snowshoe might have more terrain open but its bluddy expensive at Xmas. We spend 12-16 days a year at SS but never during holidays. Probably the last place I would want to spend Christmas considering the packed restaurants and mob scene. Wisp on the other hand is more of a quiet family place. Lodging is less expensive although limited. The runs are decent and because of their location they have snow coverage equal, sometimes greater than Snowshoe in early Dec. ... Just my 2 cents worth.

errrr ..... yeah wisp .... somehow driving the same amount of time from DC to wisp as DC to Seven Springs just does not do it for me. Like ok I spend 3 1/2 + hours on the road and I get 600 vert at wisp and ummm ... ok like the "7" is WAAAAY better no doubt. Even if it is crazy on weekends ... I'm thinking North Face back side with the throttle wide-open and all smiles and checkin' out the fine ladies around the fire place near the Oak Room ... oh yeah!!!!

Snowbird It cost me & my girl $2,400 to go to vail for the week.This was the cheapest deal going.I saw 5 snowflakes the whole week.We went to canaan & had better cond in mid march & we didn't lose any sleep from the altitude.Sure we know the west is best but you can't just pack up & go when you hear of a big dump...but you can in the west va alps!! "ALMOST HEAVEN" & Tory mtn ....can't wait!!