Family December Celebrations in Florida

 

We finally arrived at our Florida beach house, pictured below.

 

The house is just a few blocks from the beach located on the Gulf of Mexico.  We only had a few blocks to walk to it, and with planning John's birthday party, setting up for Christmas, we only were able to take small amounts of time to spend at the beach.

It was a wonderful party for his 80th birthday, with little over twenty in attendance.  We had a delicious Italian catered meal for the occasion.  What made it especially special was that we as a family were all together, which had not happened in a couple of years.  Mike came in from Los Angeles, Dan and Amanda from D.C., as well as Melissa, Spencer and their three children.  Also my sisters, Linda and Julia, flew in to celebrate with us.  We had not been able to see them either for a couple of years.  And yes, we all were tested for the covid virus.

On one of our walks outside I could not help but notice a flowering tree decorated for Christmas.  The sun was shining on it, which already added beauty to it, and then there were the Christmas decorations; white snowflakes on the tree and a Santa standing below it.  Christmas always seems strange in Florida.  The same can be said for the decorations in the main room of our rented house.  We kept the crepe paper bunting, for which we put up for the birthday party (strangely red and black), in place for Christmas.

Someone stuck a metal crane (lawn decoration gift) in the plant, and then the crepe paper decoration above it seemed to give a right feel for our celebrations that week!  Yes, we did have a beautiful decorated Christmas tree, but for some reason it seemed more fitting for me to take the above picture to sum up our week!  Strange but good.

A couple of days before Christmas we walked through Largo City park which was lit up with many Christmas lights and decorations- we have enjoyed doing that in past years.  As we were headed out of the park the Grinch stopped to talk to our grandchildren.  Nathan, the oldest, would have nothing to do with him because "he stole Christmas".  However, Sammy, our youngest grandchild, was totally fascinated by the strange man.

Christmas day was a big party all day.  There were many gifts to be unwrapped, especially by the grandchildren.  We had a few guests for our Christmas dinner, and then Spencer and Melissa, with their children, took leave to spend the rest of their Florida vacation with his family.  John and I, along with Mike, Dan and Amanda, walked to the beach to watch the sun go down.  It was a good ending for our Florida Christmas.

 

Our Christmas Trip to Florida

 Time for another road trip!  It probably would not have happened had John not had his 80th birthday December 21st.  Our daughter Melissa and I cooked up a plan to give him a party in Florida, so we rented a beach house big enough to hold all of us- her family, as well as our sons Mike and Dan as well as Dan's wife Amanda.  Fortunately we found a place south of Clearwater, on the Gulf of Mexico.  It was conveniently located fairly close to Melissa's in-laws (they reside in Dunedin Fla.); she and Spencer needed to spend some of their time with them also.  We planned to stay in the beach house through Christmas, and for that holiday it was important that the grandchildren split their time between both sides of their families.

It was on the second day of our journey south that I decided to start taking pictures to share with you all.  Our stop that evening was in a motel located by Lake Eufaula, on the Chattahoochee River.  To be more precise, we were on the southwest border of Georgia, and the southeast edge of Alabama.  The next day we would be traveling through Florida. 

We had plan to spend a day in Tarpon Spring,s Fl. before continuing on to our final destination.  We had been to this town before and appreciated its history, as well as the shops and restaurants. It also has one particular park which we enjoy visiting, Whitcomb Bayou, where the springs are located (after which the town is named- tarpon is the name of a fish caught in the local waters).   As we began to walk around the bayou I heard a ticking sound- a noise which sounded like a traffic crossing alert which allows pedestrian to walk across a street.  I glanced around, but no traffic light seen.  I then looked up and saw the osprey on top of an electric pole.  First time I had ever heard any sound from an osprey!  According to my bird book they make the sound similar to whistled kyew notes.  Not too sure if that is what I had heard!

Whitcomb Bayou park is the location every Epiphany for the diving of the cross, an event sponsored by St.Nicholas church ( Greek Orthodox).  The statue above is located outside of that church- it is of a young boy who has just victoriously found the cross under the waters of the springs.  At that time of the year it is a cold dive for sure!

Surrounding the park are large Victorian homes like the one pictured above.  A sign nearby notes that that home is called "Annecy of the Bayou", built in 1885 and restored 1976.

From the bayou John and I drove into the town and walked over to what is called the Sponge Docks.  This town is known as the "sponge capital of the world".  Early Greek immigrants to this town on the Gulf settled here because of the opportunity to continue sponge harvesting, which they had done back in their home country.  Pictured above is the "Susie Sea".  You may notice the pile of brown sponges loaded on her deck.  Recently the town had a Christmas parade of boats, looks like the Susie Sea still is decked out with her Christmas finery!