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Dreaming of a … green Christmas

Christmas Archive Photo The author, age 11, middle (in pool) enjoys a Christmas spent with family in North Port, Fla., at the Warm Mineral Springs hotel in 2002.

You would think that, after 20-plus years of living in northern Michigan, I would be used to the winter season up here.

Not a chance.

Before anyone goes off assuming that I have no Christmas spirit or I traditionally play the role of the Grinch each holiday season, let me explain why my opinion of a perfect Christmas is not exactly one spent watching the snow fall to the ground as you give and receive gifts Christmas morning.

The story of my favorite Christmas and one that changed my outlook on what the perfect way to spend the holiday season is one spent in the Sunshine State of Florida.

Don’t get me wrong, growing up, Christmastime was always exciting around the Zawacki household.

Sports obviously being a big part of my life, I vividly remember waking up Christmas mornings unwrapping brand-new baseball bats, hockey sticks, goalie pads, baseball gloves and any other gear that I was in need of that Christmas.

As I grew older, I began to realize it was always better to give presents than receive, and I remember my father’s famous line of “Christmas is every day” around the Zawacki house, which may have seemed like a joke at the time, but turned out to be quite factual.

It was Christmastime 2002, I was 11 years old, and my Grandpa Jim and Grandma Pat came up with the idea of celebrating a Kennard family Christmas in North Port, Fla., at the Warm Mineral Springs hotel.

My grandparents had been spending the previous several years vacationing in Florida and decided to spend Christmas together in a warm and sunny environment, different than a Christmas we had all experienced in Michigan.

It was a tradition to spend Christmas Eve with the Kennard side of the family, as we did a yearly gift exchange by pulling names out of a hat during Thanksgiving and each family member would buy a gift for the person who’s name they drew out of the hat.

Everyone would travel to Hillman to go to church on Christmas Eve, come back to my grandparents, eat dinner, and begin exchanging and opening gifts.

That first Christmas spent in Florida was the start of a new family tradition over the next few years.

Though we didn’t spend Christmas in Florida each year, my family made plans to spend a week in Florida each year.

Not everyone in the family was able to go each year, but I was fortunate enough to spend time in Florida around the holiday season, escaping the generally harsh winters of northern Michigan and enjoying warm weather, trips to the ocean and catching spring training baseball games.

Sometimes, it can be scary to break tradition, and it may seem strange to not spend each Christmas bundled up around the house next to family and friends, but the Christmas I will forever remember will be the one spent shirtless and in my swim trunks, underneath the palm trees and sunshine.

The change of tradition during that first trip to Florida was special for the entire family.

Our Kennard side of the family is huge, and we had nearly the entire hotel to ourselves as a family.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, sisters and brothers were together for a week, enjoying the 90-degree weather with the luxury of laying in the sun, cooling off in the pool or relaxing in the hot tub.

No snow, no gifts to open under a tree, it was just a gift to spend Christmas so close to everyone, waking up each morning to sunshine and warm weather.

For me, that was the new definition of a perfect Christmas.

Jonny Zawacki can be reached via email at jzawacki@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.

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