Don’t despair that the post-Christmas weekend is shaping up to be a dreary, sloppy affair weatherwise.

Sure, White Christmas is slip-sliding away down the street-corner drains. With temperatures creeping toward 60 degrees, it’s no time to focus on toboggans, sledding or family ski trips –the things that usually make this time of year and a visit home to Buffalo special.

But come on.

There’s more than one way to skin a chicken wing in Buffalo! Holiday cabin fever will be setting in this weekend. Big time.

But there is plenty to see and do this weekend in Western New York. So let us suggest some things you may not have thought of yet:

A new museum. Maybe you haven’t yet seen the brand new $33 million Burchfield Penney Art Center, which opened in late November during a marathon 31- hour celebration that drew crowds of more than 6,000 people.

It’s definitely worth a visit. Or maybe you have, but your kids haven’t. There is one room, the “Useum,” which has a hands-on exhibit serving as educational play space for kids. Those under 5 are free and admission for 6-to 18- year-olds is $4.

You could make a day of it and wander across to the Albright- Knox Art Gallery for a while, too!

A taste of summer. Want to go somewhere tropical for the day to take your mind off the weather?

How about someplace just 20 minutes away that’s warm, with towering palm trees?

Head straight for the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens in South Buffalo. We assure you there’s no better place to shake off this bitter winter.

Draw in a deep breath of the warm, moist air beneath a gorgeous, renovated Victorian dome right next to the giant lemons. (Oh yes, they’re giant.)

You’ll see lots of good things there that your hometown and your taxes have done for you.

Learn and play. Visit the Buffalo Museum of Science, which has holiday family programming this weekend. The activities include giant versions of checkers, mancala and pickup sticks, along with a history of the games.

There are also “make and take” paper toys and information on how nature copes in winter.

Or stop over at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, which has a huge model train display from 1 to 4 p. m. today and tomorrow, including 200 feet of track, 100 buildings and Erie Canal locks, according to its Web site,

www.bechs.org

, where you’ll find details. Work on your putting. How about escaping to the The Paddock Chevrolet Golf Dome, 175 Brompton Road, Town of Tonawanda, where for $6 to $8 you can hit a bucket of balls and the kids can play mini-golf?

If indoor golf doesn’t cut it for you, some die-hard golfers on our News staff insist there might just be some Canadian golf courses open this weekend that might be able to accommodate those of you eyeing golf bags in the closet with special longing.

You can at least try phoning as the mercury creeps toward 60, right?

Get the beat. Who can resist a polka? The Lancaster Opera House presents its annual Polish Christmas at 7:30 p. m. today and at 2:30 p. m. Sunday — a celebration of Polish folk dancing and music. The box office opens one hour before show time (683-1776). Tickets are $15 each.

Bring the whole family to see the village’s Christmasville decorations, too, which adorn shop windows through Jan. 4. They once decorated the windows of AM&A’s Department Store in downtown Buffalo in days gone by.

It’s the little things. What! You’ve never taken your children to Vidler’s on Main Street in East Aurora! For shame. Well, pile those kids in the car this minute and take them there during holiday break, and you won’t be sorry.

This rambling, old-fashioned five-and-dime store is a great family experience that kids and big people alike will love. It could even become a holiday tradition for you.

Hit the lanes. Looking for some old-fashioned fun? How about bowling? It’s worked for generations of Buffalonians, so why not?

Check out great old bowling halls like Voelkers, 686 Amherst St., in North Buffalo, which still has those great neon signs outside, plus food and drink specials every week to lure you in and roll ’em. Or try Transit Lanes, 7850 Transit Road, Amherst, 632-3838 or transitlanes.net.