Christmas is of course always tough.

You can set up alerts with various sites - Kayak, Expedia, et al. You'll get an email if there is a price drop.

If you are sure you want to go, probably the best thing to do is just nail some fare in the low 300 range and move on. That is good for the time of year.

You could consider bidding on Priceline. Not a great deal of success with airfare in the recent years, but the attempt is free.

If you are iffy about going, you could wait until later and watch for sales. Flying right on Christmas Day sometimes can be relatively inexpensive. And sort of fun, as the people working are also working at having a bit of the spirit.

Romelle

PS - And have your frequent flyer memberships set up ahead of time so you can start collecting miles.

PPS - Probably somebody here will step in and suggest you sign up for some of the credit cards and accumulate enough miles to get your ticket that way. It can work. You can research the process in the Miles Buzz! forum.