Replying to Skiing in cali

I'm heading to san diego at the end of next december for a friend's wedding and im planning on taking a few days to ski in cali. I would prefer to go farther (tahoe, mammoth, etc), but that might not be an option.

Would smaller resorts like bear mtn or buckhorn even have snow that early? Is it worth the many extra hours of driving for bigger resorts farther north? What places near/far would you guys recommend (for park and piste, im not big on pow)?