LETTER FROM THE EDITOR STACIE THRUSH, COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

a letter from the editor

Christmas is my second favorite Holiday, tied with Thanksgiving because of all the delicious food. Growing up, we had family spread out all over the country from as far north as Cleveland to as far south as central Florida. Every year, we would rotate where we would spend Christmas, so sometimes we would travel, and sometimes we would be at home in West Virginia. As a child, snow was a magical thing, and especially snow on Christmas! When I became a driver, snow became my enemy and worst nightmare. We were almost guaranteed a white Christmas when we would travel to Cleveland, West Virginia was about a fifty percent chance and Florida was almost a zero percent chance. Until the winter of 1989. That was the year of the Christmas Coastal Snowstorm. Winter weather all across the south, breaking all-time snowfall records in Wilmington, Charleston and Savannah. Where we were, in Interlachen, Florida we didn’t see much snow but there was an ice storm, and it was so odd to see tropical plants with a quarter inch coating of ice. I remember those pictures made the cut for the family album and having to explain why there were random pictures of iced plants between birthday and school photos. We lost power on Christmas Eve and the power was out through Christmas Day. Thankfully we were going to have ham for Christmas so for Christmas dinner we had ham sandwiches on rolls and potato salad by candlelight. I remember sitting around the un-lit Christmas tree, opening our presents and carrying around a flashlight to get around the house. No background noise, no Christmas music, only the sound of “What is that!? I can’t see over there, it’s too dark. Bring it over here”. I recently spent some time with my family and that Christmas came up in conversation, and how it could have very well been the worst if you look at from an inconvenience perspective. But what we remember is how funny the situation was, running from the cold and ice and it seemed to have followed us. We always thought we were safe from winter weather when we had Christmas in Florida. Still thankful that we chose ham that year instead of the turkey I insisted on, not knowing what was in store. Going through it together and spending that memorable moment with our loved ones and after all these years, turns out it was the best Christmas!