While winter temperatures vary, Christmas in Florida can often include a trip to the beach like this one in Sarasota. (Courtesy of Visit Florida)

It's ten days before Christmas and the weatherman on Channel 8 is winding up his morning broadcast.

"We're off now to chop down our Christmas tree and take it home," he says. "Then I'll go water-skiing."

Water-skiing? You can tell he's not in Canada. He is, in fact, a Tampa Bay personality and living proof the Christmas season is different in Florida.

After listening to the forecast, I drove a little way south and stopped at St. Armand's Key, a tony enclave off Sarasota. There were lineups at Ben and Jerry's ice cream outlet, while another store was doing a roaring business selling boogie boards and straw hats.

And even though the Sunshine State has been having a rare cold snap this December, it's only a matter of time before the balmy weather is back.

A bit east of Orlando the post office in the hamlet of Christmas is busy stamping "Christmas, FL" on hundreds of envelopes sent there from all over the country. "People want our distinctive postmark on their Christmas mail," says postmistress Suzanne Young.

Her office handles up to 150,000 cards every December, she says. (The hamlet is named after nearby Fort Christmas, built during the Seminole Wars and completed Dec. 25, 1837. A reconstruction of the fort now stands on the site.)

Christmas (the season, not the town), for snowbirds and Floridians alike, is perhaps the best time of the year. The theme parks all add special attractions, the summer heat has long gone (temperatures are usually in the mid-20s C. -- cooler in the Panhandle -- and the humidity has dropped.

"Instead of toboggans, ear muffs, parkas, boots and hot chocolate, the kids here are thinking inline skates, surfboards, slurpies and flip-flops," says transplanted Ontarian Gordon Shaw, of Longboat Key. "For the grown-ups, it's a time for golf, tennis, fishing, even swimming. And the only ice we see is in our margaritas."

In place of Santa Claus parades, there are boat parades. On beaches and in parks all along the Intracoastal Waterway -- the strip of water that separates the mainland from the barrier islands -- crowds gather after dark from mid-December to watch a procession of boats of every size glide by, festooned with thousands of coloured lights.

In the subdivisions, residents pour a few kilos of sand into paper grocery bags, light candles in them and place them, a metre apart, along their driveways so after dark the streets glow with these luminaria.

And while there are certainly plenty of traditional Christmas trees -- including a giant, decorated permanent tree near the Christmas post office -- residents also festoon palm trees and heliconia with lights and decorations.

For the first-time Christmas visitor, it's disconcerting to walk through the malls in shorts and sandals while someone on the PA is singing about "Jack Frost nipping at my nose."

But Santa doesn't change, even if he sometimes tours the condominium and resort developments in a golf cart.

Florida has a rich mix of ethnic communities with a correspondingly wide range of Christmas celebrations. Tarpon Springs, north of Clearwater, was settled by Greeks and here the Jolly Old Elf is St. Basil, and dinner is likely to be stuffed partridge rather than turkey.

The Cubans have a big dinner of pork on Christmas Eve and then there's dancing and fortified eggnog. The Norwegians fly their home-country flag on the tree and strew straw to ward off evil spirits. The Scots -- mostly around Dunedin, winter home of the Toronto Blue Jays -- hold off their big bash, as in Scotland, to New Year's Eve, or Hogmanay. In the German communities, the Christ Child, rather than Santa, brings presents.

MORE INFORMATION

For tourist information on Florida, check the website visitflorida.com.