Santa Claus Hits Florida Beach to Catch Some Charitable Waves

Guess what? Santa Claus was taking a little break before his Christmas Eve across the globe. He wasn't chilling at the North Pole either. The big guy was hitting the waves at Cocoa Beach, Florida, with hundreds of his Santa buddies. Wearing red suits over wetsuits and rocking bodacious white beards bra! These Santas were making the Atlantic Ocean their winter wonderland.

It's not your usual Christmas scene... No snow, no cozy fireplaces. Instead, it's Santa catching waves, showing off his surf skills to a crowd of beachgoers. Imagine Baywatch, but with Santas running in slow motion.

According to The New York Post, the genius behind the Santa Claus spectacle is George Trosset. He started the Surfing Santas back in 2009. Fast forward to today, and it's gone global. But it's not just fun and games. These Santas are doing some good too. Over the years, Surfing Santas has help to raise money for Florida charitys that help people dealing with cancer travel for treatments. So, these Santas aren't just surf pros, they're making a difference too.

And the grand finale? A noon "paddle out" to honor Jimmy Buffett, the king of beach vibes in Florida, who passed away recently. Originally planning to move the party up the shore, organizers changed their minds after locals protested. Can you blame them? Cocoa Beach is the perfect place to party.  The Santas know how to keep the party by the shore, where the surf is up dude.

Everyone has a favorite Christmas movie. A movie that you just have to see every year. One that you could watch over and over again. However, Florida's favorite Christmas movies might surprise you. Most of them are considered to be outliers. Spoiler alert, "Home Alone," that Macaulay Culkin classic does not appear in the top ten for Floridians. Even more disturbing is the fact that a horror movie was among the most popular holiday movie in Tennessee and Michigan. It's called "Violent Night."

I don't know about you, but I see enough near violence in shopping center parking lots this time of year. Not interested in watching tinsel slashings on the television. For me, I really look forward to some of the classic cartoons like "Frosty The Snowman," "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas," and "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer." They are nostalgic and remind me of childhood. I do love the current version of The Grinch with Jim Carey as well as "Elf" with Will Ferrell.

Back to the rankings. They come from Looper. Their experts found a 300% increase in Google searches for ‘best Christmas movies’ in the past month. In addition, there has been a 130% increase in demand for ‘best Christmas movies streaming.’ So first, they looked into IMBb’s list of best Christmas movies of all time. Next, they analyzed Google search trends data. Finally, they took all the data and compiled a list of  the most searched-for holiday movie in every U.S. state.

Here is another spoiler alert. None were the sappy Hallmark Christmas movies. There were a couple of surprises for me. Here is one. The Rankin-Bass stop-motion class "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" did not rank in Florida. However, it dominates searches in the Midwest. You can find the entire report here.

Florida's favorite Christmas movies might surprise you. Here are the top five.

This film actually won three Academy Awards. It's another one to reel in the cynics. In it, a man named Kris Kringle fills in for the Macy's Santa Claus who shows up drunk for the Thanksgiving Day parade. He claims to be the real Santa and ends up in court defending both his mental health and his claims. Of course there are a few glimmers of miracles that continue to occur.