When coming to Mount Holyoke, one of the things that excited me most as a Floridian, more specifically as someone from Miami, was the idea that I’d finally get to experience a real winter and consequently a real white Christmas. I spent most of the semester being ridiculously happy with this thought, and then around Thanksgiving break, it hit me. I’d be home for Christmas break.
My home is in Florida. That means, no real winter or Christmas for me. I think a part of me died. Needless to say, I am no longer carrying my unrealistic dream of a real white Christmas. I have faced reality, and have come to accept my hot, sweaty, sticky and humid Christmas experience.
In preparation for the upcoming jolly seasons, here’s a list of things Floridians do during their not-cold-at-all Christmas:
1. Wait for it to get to 70 degrees or below to feel like you’re actually in the season called “winter” to join in with the rest of the United States.
Just the other day, my friend sent me a picture of the weather forecast in Florida, and the list was high 60’s and low 70’s and she said, “It’s finally cold in Florida!” (To give her credit though, the forecast for that specific day was 57 degrees, so it was cold…in Florida terms.)
2. Buy/wear winter clothes to feel like you’re in the “winter club”.
Around this time in Florida, the department stores are filled with winter fashion, even though it’s impossible to wear any of it during the humid 70 degree winter. But either way, you buy and wear winter attire so you can feel what feels like the rest of the United States.
3. Turn down the air conditioner to feel colder if mother nature fails you.
Want to wear that nice sweater you bought at JC Penny in preparation for the winter you’ll never get at Christmas dinner? The air conditioner is your best friend; it allows you to make your own internal winter and therefore enjoy your sweater weather.
4. Bake cookies? Who does that?
I’m not sure about the rest of Florida, but down in Miami, we eat all things pastelitos, even on Christmas day. But if you must defy tradition, I suppose you could bake cookies instead.
5. Go to the beach.
What else do you do in Florida but go to the beach? And besides, where else can you make a sandman in December?
6. Pretend you’re happy that you don’t have to shovel snow when you’re secretly envious.
This meme says it all.
Florida may not be good at doing winter, but we have our own special way of celebrating the season. And besides, you’re not living if you can’t have an outdoor barbeque on Christmas day.
Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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