Growing up in the Midwest, the holidays always came wrapped with cold air and a fresh coat of snow. The cool crisp air and quiet streets blanketed in white snow made the season feel like the most wonderful time of the year.
But when I started college in South Florida, winter felt strangely incomplete. There was no snow, no cold or any of the familiar clues that winter was upon us.
At first it was disappointing. All that nostalgia that I felt for Midwest winters and the traditions that I had associated with the holiday season seemed out of reach. In places where the weather never changes, the usual markers of the season fades leaving me picturing bright afternoons on the beach instead of the familiar holiday scenes that I grew up with.
The contrast between the Midwest and South Florida couldn’t be more stark. In my hometown of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, winters meant scraping the ice off my car, seeing my breath in the morning and turning the nearest ditch into a place to sled.
Here in South Florida, the warmth, humidity and constant bright sunshine make winter feel less like a season and more of a milder extension of summer.
While Midwesterners decorate pine trees at the start of the season, Floridians wrap strings of colorful lights around the trunks of palm trees. Inflatable snowmen sit proudly on green lawns that may never feel a single snowflake. It’s festive, just not in the way that resembles the winters that I grew up in.
Adjusting to this environment took time. I found myself longing for the traditions and routines that I now realize were taken for granted. I missed warming up by the fireplace after coming in from the cold. I missed watching snowfall from my bedroom window and waking up to see the green grass transformed into all white after a night of heavy snowfall.
It felt as if the “holiday magic” that I grew up in had slipped away.
But over time, I began to understand that the holiday season isn’t just defined by temperature or snow. The longing that I felt wasn’t really for the snow, but for what the snow signaled. It reminded me of the family gatherings we had, the traditions that we celebrated and the comforting rhythm of a Midwest winter.
Slowly, I learned to stop measuring the holiday spirit by how cold and snowy December had felt.
Experiencing the holidays in South Florida has taught me something important, the season is shaped by people and not just the weather. The warm temperatures, palm tree decorations and unfamiliar routines that once felt strange eventually took on a meaning of their own.
I realized that the holiday spirit comes from the moments we create, and not just the scenery around us.
Even without the flurries, the holidays can feel just as special as in the Midwest — but just in their own unique South Florida way. While a part of me will always miss the magical snowy Decembers of my hometown, I’ve learned that holiday joy doesn’t melt away in the warm weather. Down here, students celebrate the season differently by trading snow days for beach days, swapping hot chocolate for an iced cafecito and enjoying long days on the boats over sledding on hills.
The traditions may look different but the spirit is still there; it simply thrives in the sun instead of the snow.