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Be aware there is no guarantee of snow anywhere expect perhaps the western mountains, where a snow pack is already developing by that time. So you have to watch the weather. Best bet if you want to drive from texas and looking at close locations, as had been said, is the high elevations of New Mexico. Or, heck, just watch the weather and catch one of the once a season or so snowfalls in Dallas and run up quickly before it melts. Might not be enough to play in however.
In Canada, Toronto and Montreal are both interesting cities to visit outside of also probably having snow around then.
Toronto may or may not have snow in late December, Montreal likely will. Quebec City certainly will. The Syracuse area gets a heck of a lot of snow but I don't know if you're 100% sure to have snow that early in the winter.
OP, if you don't care about skiing, just don't go near a ski resort. Hotel rates will be higher in many places during the holidays but it'd be stupid to pay $550/night if you only want your kids to see snow. You mentioned Stowe, VT -- did you check Burlington, VT? I'm sure prices drop sharply once you're 1 hour or so away from a ski resort, and you won't run out of smaller hills to sled.
Come to Bend, Oregon. You can probably get a non-stop flight from one of the big Texas airports to Portland Oregon, and then a puddle jumper to Redmond Oregon.
There is a full price range selection of motels all the way from very cheap to rather expensive. Skiing is always open by Thanksgiving and there are about a zillion miles of snow trails for snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and cross country skiing. The area is full of snow parks where you can drive to a plowed parking lots and play in the snow.
There are nearly 30 golf courses open to the public and because the weather is dry and sunny, people will be out golfing, if you happen to golf.
The shopping is good and there is no sales tax in Oregon, so you can load up.
There are many excellent restaurants, some of them economy priced and still excellent food.
We have assorted winter festivals and dates are probably on-line if you want to time it to be here for one of them.
There are a couple of ice rings for skating and they aren't expensive. One of the hotels offers sled dog rides.
There are national level sporting events in the winter. Top level sled dog races, skiing and snow board competitions, bicycle racing (yes, in the winter), if you want something to watch.
You can take the kids to see dormant volcanoes and the High desert Museum. Even in the winter, there will be rock climbers climbing at Smith Rocks, although I've got to say, they move so slow it gets boring fast watching them.
Olympic athletes train here, and I suppose it might be possible to find out when, so you can watch them train.
There is a Western town (Sisters, Oregon) with false fronted buildings, wonderful shopping specializing in arts and crafts, and an elk farm where you can see elk right from the road.
There is rarely snow right in Bend. It is a short drive to the snow and then you don't have to deal with snow when you are going out to dinner or trying to walk through parking lots. Sometimes there is snow in town, but probably not that early in the year.
You'd have really bad luck to get here and not have sunshine.
Come to Montana! It will be off season...Yellowstone National Park has plenty of snow! And it will be cheap to stay off season. Bonus, you see more animals. They have snow mobile riding, you can do all kinds of winter stuff.
The further North you go, the higher you go in altitude, the colder it gets: think Montana. But, it will almost certainly have to be in a mountainous area, so Northern Arizona or New Mexico is your closest bet...and maybe West Texas in Big Bend National Park. The mountain regions of Colorado are also a sure bet, but expensive and busy. I'm a skier, so I can't really help. South and West of Barcelona, Spain? Northern Slovenia? The Carpathian Mountains in Romania? Central Norway, Sweden?
Winter - Pure Michigan Travel
I lived in southwest MI, along the lakeshore and I will say that seeing the 'icebergs' on lake Michigan is a remarkable sight.
In the winter we would take our sleds and toboggans to the lake and make our runs down the dunes, loads of inexpensive fun!
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