Polk Co. sheriff holiday card becomes cherished tradition

LAKELAND, Fla. (FOX 13) - It must be Christmas. Polk Sheriff Grady Judd just sent out his annual holiday card to 300 of his closest friends.

On the front, it says “Just in Time for the Holidays.” When you open it, it says, “The Judd Band Christmas Holiday Classic. It looks like a CD.

On one side Judd, under a Polk County Jail sign, wearing a Santa hat, is playing the guitar. His backup band members are all dressed in jailhouse orange. On the other side you see a list of songs on the CD, “Won’t be Home for Christmas,”  “Jingle Bail Rock,” “Silver Cuffs,” “Frosty the Conman,” and more.

It’s a bit of a stretch Judd admits.

“I don’t sing. I don’t dance,” he told FOX 13 very matter-of-factly.

He said with only one exception.

“I sing in church as long as no one hears me, as long as it blends in with a lot of other people singing,” he said.

Judd says a few months before Christmas, he and several staffers begin kicking around ideas for that year’s card. He says they never like his because they say his are all “too sketchy.”

This is the seventh year Judd has sent out holiday cards.