Christmas in Florida

This past Christmas was a Ross Family Christmas. Since Alexa lives in Wisconsin, where snot freezes when you walk outside, and we live in Venezuela where flights are quite expensive and difficult to find, the family decided to all meet in a warm place with relatively easy access from both Caracas and Louisiana: Ft. Meyers, Florida. Kat found a suitable little duplex to rent for a week. Alexa flew to Baton Rouge and then drove around the corner to Florida with Bubby, Poppa and Uncle Ari. We missed Bekah in person, but were able to Skype a couple times.

Florida is kinda weird.

Parkways, strip malls and big box stores plus the ubiquitous Publix supermarket and no helmet law for motorcyclists. Mini-golf is the main attraction; Jungle-, Castle- and Pirate-themed places were all nearby our rental house. Pastels and airbrush t-shirts live on near the beaches, as do shrimp and seashells. All of it reminded me that the United States has incredible regional diversity.

Graham’s favorite part of the trip was Legoland. Kat’s was the botanical gardens in Naples. Mine was getting a chance to play with a local Capoeira group. Of course, as Kat said, “It doesn’t matter where we spend Christmas as long as our family can get together.”