This winter holiday season is my first as a blogger so I’m filled with an abnormal amount of glee at the prospect of having a public platform where I can wax poetic about all the great things that happen this time of year. I’ve already tackled the subject of nifty-but-practical gift wrapping.

Let me now take a stab at dispelling a common myth that crops up around Christmastime. There are some folks who insist that enjoying the holidays requires cold weather, the delightful anticipation of a snowfall, and the warm coziness of a crackling fire. They argue that spending the holidays in a less-than-frigid climate would feel incongruous with the true spirit of the yuletide season.

Well, I’m here to tell everyone that it just ain’t true. It’s a myth, folks! Back in 2004, I was fortunate enough to spend Christmas in Hawaii, and it was flat-out fabulous. There was no bundling up in woolen layers! In my sunny and balmy Hawaiian heaven, I happily ran around in shorts and tank tops.

At a luau on Christmas Eve with family friend, Mrs. Kim.

Christmas Day at Kailua Beach Park on Oahu. (It’s almost unfathomable that 6,000 miles away the next day, the South Asian Tsunami struck.)

View of Waikiki, the marina and Ala Moana Beach Park at dusk from a friend’s apartment on the day after Christmas.

OK, I admit that the fall and winter of 2004 was a rough patch for me. After getting my master’s degree in global marketing, I had moved back into my mom’s house. Desperately searching for a job, I finally thought I hit the jackpot when I got the opportunity to pursue my dream job at Nike. The application and interview process was grueling, but I had hope: I was one of four candidates still left in the hunt. I didn’t get the job, though, and I was crushed. So when a family friend invited me and my mom to her house in Hawaii, we jumped at the chance to escape reality for awhile.

Seven years later, the closest I am to seeing palm trees in December is in a DC office building atrium (and I’m not even sure if these are real or fake):

Look, don’t take my word for it.  Book a trip to a warm destination, board your plane wearing a coat, disembark wearing a t-shirt, and see if you miss your traditional holiday—if you ever come back, that is.