gasparilla island love

For the past 24 years, we've celebrated our Christmases down on Gasparilla Island - a skinny little sliver of land tucked away off the Gulf coast of Florida.  While for most the holidays mean snow and cocoa and fireplaces, for us - they're sand and margaritas and sunsets.  And I could not be happier about it.  I absolutely love being down here for the holidays.  Actually, I absolutely love being down here just about any time of the year.

Why, you ask?  Well, for a whole lot of reasons.   

1. Downtown Boca Grande is sprinkled with tons of good-ole-days charm and nostalgia:

2. My parents' little island home is full of all kinds of beachy goodness:

3. We spend our sunny days walking the beach, reading in the sun, or playing tennis:

4. And the sunsets are unreal:

But it wasn't until yesterday morning - when my little brother (whose not so little - note photos of this 20-year-old football-playing stud above) and I were walking into town on the beach to meet my mom for breakfast - that I realized the real reason I adore my time down here so, so much.

As he stepped through the waves, he confessed:

"You know what I've come to really appreciate recently?  Mom and Dad.  I always take for granted the fact that they're pretty much the most awesome parents we could possibly have.  You know how I am having a bunch of college guy friends down here for a long weekend in January?  When we were trying to figure out which weekend to come there was one weekend when Mom and Dad were going to be back home in Milwaukee and I said to my friends: 'We can go down that weekend, BUT my parents WON'T be there,' and they were all like: 'No, no - let's go when your parents ARE there.'  How many 20-year-olds do you know that actually want to hang out with their friends and parents together?  That's pretty awesome."

I couldn't agree more my wise-well-beyond-your-years little bro.  

Thanks Mom and Dad for making this island (and every other place else with you) magical.

xoxo

KK