Bask in a sunny Palm Beach holiday

Buccan. 350 S. County Road, Palm Beach, Fla. 561-833-3450, buccanpalmbeach.com.

What to do

Worth Avenue Historical Walking Tours. Offered from October to April. worth-avenue.com.

Artists Alley. The alley runs north and south between N.E. Third and Fourth. Warehouses are at 350-358 N.E. 4th St., Delray Beach, Fla. Studios and galleries are open 6-9 p.m. the first Friday and third Thursday of every month and noon-5 p.m. Saturdays. artistsalleydelray.com.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas — white sand, that is.

In Palm Beach, Fla., the weather outside is delightful, not frightful, and that’s the way I like it. Relaxing in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean is more appealing than sledding down a freezing slope, and I think it’s better to have a red nose caused by the South Florida sun than Jack Frost’s tiresome nipping. I’ll take a fruity cocktail on the beach over a glass of eggnog by the fire any day.

This sentiment is shared by celebrities and old money bluebloods who instinctively flock to this super-posh seaside resort town in winter like migratory birds. They come to play golf, enjoy water sports, party on their yachts, show off high-end fashions, and maybe do a little shopping for art and antiques.

I’ll never be one of the Forbes-listed billionaires who can afford to spend a couple of leisurely months here in an opulent seaside mansion, but I can grab a week’s worth of comfort and joy during the holiday season.

I’m worth it

“Santa baby, just slip a sable under the tree, for me / Been an awful good girl, Santa baby / So hurry down the chimney tonight.”

This tongue-in-cheek song about the materialistic side of the holidays seems to be playing everywhere, and now it’s stuck in my head like irritating grains of sand in my bathing suit. It is an appropriate soundtrack, though, for a historical walking tour of Worth Avenue, the Rodeo Drive of the South.

Anyone in the market for a sable or any other luxury item likely will find it in this world-famous, three-block shopping mecca that’s home to about 200 chic boutiques, art galleries and restaurants.

As my tour group made its way beneath a canopy of towering palm trees, our guide pointed out a Ralph Lauren store, explaining that the building was home to the first Saks Fifth Avenue outside of New York City. The high-end department store opened its doors in Palm Beach in 1928, but when the avenue expanded in 1980 to include an addition called the Esplanade, the retailer relocated to the new annex.

We strolled past Tiffany’s, Chanel, Gucci and Louis Vuitton, admiring elegant window displays designed to lure fashionistas carrying fluffy dogs and designer purses full of plastic, but we quickly learned this chic promenade hasn’t always been so glamorous. It started out as little more than a dirt path called Jungle Road, and the only entertainment was a ragtag bunch of brawny alligator wrestlers.

Renowned architect Addison Mizner (1872-1933) changed all that. The eccentric visionary, who was rarely seen without his pet monkey, Johnny Brown, on his shoulder, transformed the thoroughfare with his Old World designs incorporating red barrel-tile roofs and gleaming whitewashed stucco. As the area became more affluent, Jungle Road was renamed Worth Avenue after nearby Lake Worth, a section of the Intracoastal Waterway that separates Palm Beach and West Palm Beach.

Mizner’s first big success was designing the uber-exclusive Everglades Club, which opened on the west end of Worth Avenue in 1919 and launched its reputation as a place to see and be seen. Almost 100 years later, the private club remains a social hub for Palm Beach aristocracy.

What I appreciate most about this gilded avenue is what’s tucked out of sight behind the rows of tony retailers — the Mizner-designed “vias.” These Mediterranean Revival-style courtyards, adorned with graceful statuary, fountains, murals and tropical flowers, are charming oases that can be enjoyed by all — even those with a budget better suited to window shopping.

The art of giving

I have an art enthusiast on my Christmas shopping list, so I checked out Artists Alley in Delray Beach, a town in Palm Beach County just 20 miles south of the town of Palm Beach. At the north end of the Pineapple Grove Arts District is an enterprising community of about 30 artists who have transformed a block of empty warehouses into thriving art studios and galleries.

I wandered into the Magnus & Gordon Gallery and was instantly struck by the contrasting artistic styles of Magnus Sebastian and Brenda Gordon. It was like attending a classical music concert where a heavy metal band is jamming away next to the orchestra.

Sebastian is the heavy metal half of that analogy. His avant-garde sculptures are in-your-face, demanding your attention and daring you to look away. They are big and bold and jarring. Sebastian’s artworks begin with vintage mannequins that he takes apart and fills with discarded bits of machinery, his representation of modern society becoming soulless as it mindlessly devours the latest technology. They left me feeling disconcerted.

I pulled myself away and perused Gordon’s side of the gallery, which showcases more traditional works — oil paintings depicting tranquil seascapes, local wildlife and images of bathing beauties reminiscent of 1940s pinup girls. Her paintings are the perfect serenity-inducing antidote to Sebastian’s unsettling sculptures. The couple is the yin and the yang of the art world, and I was intrigued by both sides of the gallery for different reasons.

There’s so much to see in this microcosm of the South Florida arts scene. The Jeff Whyman Gallery features painted steel installations that depict cartoonish, larger-than-life figures in joyful, carefree poses. Cacace Fine Art houses a collection of Vincent Cacace’s oil paintings of early Florida. And Cloud House Pottery is teeming with wheel-thrown ceramic art produced by Ian and Ellen Levinson, a mother and son team.

All is calm

This time of the year we are reminded it’s better to give than to receive. Those who repeat that platitude have clearly never been on the receiving end of a treatment at Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, a 42,000-square-foot palace of pampering.

After a day of water sports that included my first attempt at paddle boarding, I felt like that grandma who got run over by a reindeer. I gratefully submerged my aching body in the swirling Jacuzzi and drifted away.

A voice as soft as velvet woke me from my reverie.

“Mrs. Teo, would you like a glass of champagne while you wait for your massage therapist?”

Why, yes, Mrs. Teo would like that very much, indeed. And, honey, could you fetch me one of those frosted cupcakes from the relaxation area?

At this spa, you can forget herbal tea. It’s not about health and wellness. It’s about indulgence. The spa has an extensive menu of treatments, running $168-$315, depending on the type and length of massage.

I put myself in the hands of a massage angel who gently kneaded all my knotted muscles and slathered my body with floral-scented oil.

I emerged an hour later in a Nirvana-like state and headed to the sauna.

That blissful afternoon was a Christmas present to myself and probably better than anything I’m likely to find under the tree.