[TANaples]

Originally Posted by outsider1

Poor illegal forners... shoveling and mowing, mowing and shoveling... absolutely no time to study English

Spoke English very well. They owned homes in the area and were just looking to make extra money with the plow on their trucks. A few even did it for me for FREE. Imagine that?

[faithfulFrank]

I've spent my first 50 years with snowy, cold Christmases in western NY.

I want to spend my next 50 years having Florida Christmases.......

I just flew back last night from spending a month in Florida.....i'm back in NY now, freezing. I'll be up here this Christmas. We tagged our 12 foot, (not our biggest) Douglas fir Christmas tree before we left for Florida. We'll bundle up and cut it down ourselves the weekend after Thanksgiving, drag it through the snow and take it home. The fireplace will thaw it out as we decorate it.

Then we will endure 5 months of cold, blustery winter until we can go back to sunny Florida......can't wait!

Frank D.

[Margel]

Originally Posted by Rachael84

This talk about warm Christmases reminds me of Home Alone 2. The whole family was going to Miami for Christmas and Kevin's reaction was, "Who would want to spend Christmas in a tropical place anyway?" All the kids in the family were depressed and kept saying they wanted to go to NY to see Kevin. Once they arrived, everyone loved the snow and the Christmas spirit around the city

The fact is that those above mentioned are just songs, the same as Home Alone is just a movie. Christmas is always depicted as cold and snowy as is Santa Claus in the North Pole. But truthfully the entire world, regardless of how Christmas "is supposed to look," cannot possible be cold or white. Christmas is meant to be a celebration of the birth of Christ, of being with family and friends, and enjoying whatever it is that makes you happy in life. If you need cold and white to do that, then you are missing the whole idea behind Christmas.

[Rachael84]

I know that, but most people get in the Christmas mood by being in the cold and having snow. As soon as I get to Florida the day before Christmas Eve, I forget all about the Christmas mood I had up north because it feels like it's summer down there lol

[Alphaman]

What the ideal weather for Christmas is what someone is used to. If you were born in a climate with 4 seasons then yes, Florida will not feel like Christmas to YOU but if you were born here then this is what it will feel like to you, not cold and snowy.

I was born in the northeast and no it doesn't feel like what Christmas was when I was a child but I will take the mild weather here over the cold Grey winters.

If we could have one week during Christmas that was cold then it would be nice but not a game breaker for me.

[Margel]

Originally Posted by Rachael84

I know that, but most people get in the Christmas mood by being in the cold and having snow. As soon as I get to Florida the day before Christmas Eve, I forget all about the Christmas mood I had up north because it feels like it's summer down there lol

I could definitely see what you are saying. I remember one particularly mild winter and actual warm Christmas we had in Philadelphia. Many of my neighbors were complaining that it just didn't feel like Christmas. It really is what you are used to and comfortable with. For me, I don't care about the weather so much as what I will be doing over the holidays. However, for me, right after Christmas day, especially around New Years, I get the blues because I know that many months of cold gray winter is ahead of me. That was one reason I decided to move to Florida.

[ChrisA70]

Christmas is Christmas no matter where you are, I just PREFER a white, cold one. It's all the same as living down there or here, hot or cold is a personal preference.

[cincobayou]

Hi...I took that photo of the "lighthouse" in Destin.
It is actually the top part of a restuarant-bar called Harry T's and was just opened in 2008 beside the Destin bridge. Harry T's used to be a favorite place in Destin but closed a few years back. It has just been redesigned and relocated to its new home beside the bridge.
From the angle that I took this photo, it made it look as if there really is a real lighthouse in Destin Harbor.
Thank you for liking my photo enough to use it here.
It is posted in WeatherUnderground.com where you can see many great shots of this beautiful Florida Panhandle....by far the nicest part of this state!
CB

[a_fl_vol]

I have lived in Clearwater, Florida for 10 years, originally from Tennessee. Off the top of my head, here are some pros and cons:

Pros:
- Warm weather during the winter months
- Convenient: everything is within close proximity
- Incredibly beautiful place to live and work
- Lots lots of activities
- Lots of social scenes
- 30 minute drive to Tampa
- Education: Univ of South Florida and St Petersburg College
- After 10 years, I still love sitting at the bar drinking beer at Palm Pavilion on Clearwater Beach -- looking out over the ocean might I say.

Cons:
- More expensive housing, car insurance, property tax, and homeowners insurance
- Congested: Pinellas County is the most densely populated county in all of Florida
- Transportation infrastructure (ie road system) can't handle the number of people
- Crime rate is higher (just visit www.baynews9.com everyday & you'll see what I mean)
- Just doesn't have that Southern 'howdy do' feel or people. Made up of mostly Northeasterners.
- Very transient: you'll make great friends then they'll leave after a couple of years.

[Nomadicus]

I see no one is bashing the weather now. March is coming and bringing nasty heat and humidity with it. For now the weather is very good. I can hear my bones complaining still about the snow and cold I put them through some years back...This time of year FL is a great place to live for those with cold weather related health issues.