This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Winona chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
If you are from the Midwest, you more than likely don’t know what it’s like to have a Thanksgiving outside of the cold weather. You are so used to seeing snow or it being around 40 degrees that if someone told you that they spend their Thanksgiving or even their holidays somewhere warm, you would find it strange.
With me being from the Midwest, my family’s holiday traditions may be a little nontraditional. Every year for Thanksgiving we head to Anna Maria Island, FL which is about an hour south of Tampa Bay. It’s a little island that’s about 7 miles long and 2 miles wide. It’s absolutely perfect. You would think that going to a small island would be boring but it’s very relaxing and it’s a way to get away from reality for a couple days.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely strange not being in the cold or around snow, but I guess for me I replace the snow with sand and I’m perfectly happy. We also have a lot of family that lives in Florida, so we rent a condo on the island and the day before Thanksgiving we have some of the family come and stay with us.
On the day of Thanksgiving we have our traditional bloody marys that my dad prepares the night before because he wants to make sure they are perfect. Besides the turkey, they are my favorite part of the day because they are so good and it’s something that we do every year.
As the day progresses more of our family arrives and we get the festivities started. You may think that just because we go to Florida that we don’t have traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but just like any family we make sure we have the foods that everyone has like cheesy mashed potatoes, stuffing, turkey, and more!
At the end of the day after we have eaten and are stuffed beyond belief, we take our drinks and head down to the beach to watch the sunset. We take family pictures and spend even more time with each other. I always hate when the day is over and we say goodbye to our family because I usually only get to see them once a year, but I’m always so grateful for the time that we all spend together.
Everyone has their traditions and I love our nontraditional Thanksgiving that we spend in Florida.
