My daughter Maria sent me a poem that's making its rounds on the Internet. It's supposed to be sung to the tune of "Winter Wonderland" and is especially appropriate to those of us who live in Florida.

Ready? Let's sing:Palm trees wave, are you listenin'In the pool, water's glistenin'A beautiful sight, we're happy tonightLivin' in a Florida Wonderland.Gone away is the blizzard,Here to stay is the lizard,A warm sunny day, we like it that way,Livin' in a Florida Wonderland.My girlfriend Jeanne says after you sing it the melody stays in your mind all day. That's true, but I may have to sing the original words because I'm headed to the cold northeast for Christmas.To me, home for the holidays means being where my family is. That means we all head to New Jersey for the warm hospitality of my daughter Andrea and her husband, Greg.While I will mind the cold, I know I will be warmed by the chance to spend time with my daughters, son-in-law and grandchildren.Nothing beats being with family.I do have to admit celebrating Christmas in so much sunshine seemed weird when I first moved to Florida.Christmas trees in Florida seemed strange, too.In Pennsylvania, buying our family Christmas tree was a "happening," a yearly tradition the entire family cherished.It meant going to Biesel's Christmas farm and walking through a mountain of trees to find the perfect one that would reach the ceiling. Of course, we had to chop down the tree and drag it back. That was part of the fun and we always photographed that big event.My daughters still rate that tradition as a favorite childhood memory.When Andy passed away, sweet Dana Biesel did one of his characteristic good deeds by cutting down the exact kind of tree he knew I would like and delivering it to me, even though he was running on fumes from a long day working in the cold.That, too, is a warm Christmas memory for me. Dana's good deed certainly embodied the spirit of Christmas and it gave me the boost I needed after Andy was gone.When you are used to big, beautiful, fresh Christmas trees that still smell like a pine forest, it's an adjustment to be here in Florida where most people don't have a real tree.When I first moved here, my neighbors threatened they would "vote me off the block" if they had to listen one more time to my lament that "it doesn't feel like Christmas here."After a few years I adjusted and established my own Florida Christmas tree tradition. For a few years I decorated an artificial tree shaped like a palm tree with birds.The only other ornament allowed on the tree was the beautiful fairy godmother given to me years ago by my dear friend Linda Koehler.Christmas epitomizes warm, loving thoughts, and that's exactly what I have every time I look at that ornament.Eventually, as I settled into becoming a Floridian, I switched to a seashell tree. Our shell club members make creative decorations from shells. I'm not crafty, but my friends shared their clever originals.Remember when red and green were mostly the only colors on a Christmas tree? Not any more. Now we have teal, chartreuse, mauve and purple themed trees.For the past two years I've used aquamarine decorations.I'm going whole hog with aquamarine this year. I just finished painting my house that color, trying for the color of the sea.We do have some strange twists to Christmas traditions here in Florida. Santa seldom wears his heavy velvet suit. He wears shorts.Beach Santa is ever so popular. With his authentic long white beard, he rides up and down the beach in a sand buggy, dispensing gifts to the kiddies.I know Santa rather well and I can tell you he lives on a small pension and doesn't have much. But he saves all year to buy goodies for the kids.For a few years a local church tried to build a snow slide for the kids by freezing water and adding chemicals. The sun made short work of the artificial snow, but the kids seemed excited for its short stay.To tell the truth, though, I don't miss snow. There are a lot of things I miss about Pennsylvania, but snow is not one of them.I'm glad to get away from sleet, slippery roads and freezing cold. When you move to Florida your blood must get thinner. Why else would we claim "we're freezing" when the temperature drops to 40?I actually get chills when the temperature dips as I watch TV at night. So you can imagine how much I mind the cold in New Jersey.But once I'm sitting around the dining room table with my family, there is no such thing as being too cold.When we are all together there is only the warmth of a family that cherishes every time we can all be together.Long plane rides, crowded terminals, mistakes and miscues along the way all fade away when we can celebrate Christmas with each other.Merry Christmas to you and yours. Whether you're enjoying palm trees or real pine Christmas trees, may you experience the joy of the season.Contact Pattie Mihalik at

newsgirl@comcast.net.