I moved my family to Florida years ago. Celebrating Christmas in the sunny state has been filled with surprises.

My family has gotten used to celebrating Christmas in Florida. Terri Peters

• My family is celebrating another holiday season in Florida after moving down here in 2016.
• It's warm and sunny during the winter here, so it was hard to feel festive when we first moved.

My family's celebrating our eighth Christmas season in Florida this year, but I still remember how strange our first was when we moved here from Maryland in 2016.

Instead of bundling up for winter activities, we slipped on flip-flops. The only snow we saw was the fake stuff at Disney World.

But we've gotten used to the unique ways Floridians celebrate the winter holidays on sunny days that are over 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

And these warm-weather ways of celebrating get me into the holiday spirit as much as anything else.