Merry Christmas in July!!
Wait. You’re not celebrating?
Thank God! I’m not either. While I am all for Christmas decorations, once a year is enough. And even then, the thought of putting up the Christmas tree in our post-Thanksgiving haze is daunting. I cannot imagine doing that in the middle of the summer just for fun.
No lie. Christmas in July is real. Not just a gimmick for selling mattresses and clothes and for watching Hallmark movies. The “holiday” dates to 1933 according to an origins article in Southern Living, complete with tree, presents, and Santa Claus. However, in the middle of July, that sounds like a lot of work. Even for my friends who take their Christmas seriously.
And I mean seriously.
While reviewing the design of an addition for friends in Ohio, the couple could not stress enough the need for easy access to their new attic space. They needed storage for their Christmas decorations and going up and down an attic stair wasn’t going to cut it. And I understood. Or thought I did. Then I saw the pictures.
At the apex of their Christmas celebrations, their modest home with a very modest living room played host to ten Christmas trees. Ten. Separate. Trees. Each with its own theme. Plus stockings, knick-knacks, garland, etc. Suddenly my one tree didn’t seem like a big deal. But who does that?
Turns out – more people than I thought. Our friend Phillip in Atlanta puts up three separate trees at his house, one tree at his boyfriend’s, and one tree at his cabin. I was especially startled to hear that another couple we know has enough bins of Christmas decorations they created a spreadsheet.
Who are these people?
Just hearing that made me feel like a bit of a slacker. I’m happy that we can fit all of our stuff into half of one closet. Having to open Excel to decide which bins to pull every year seems frightening, although I suspect James would secretly love it.
But then I remembered a client from years past who enjoyed putting up her tree almost as much as I do. She had one very specific request – a closet in her living room to store the Christmas tree. Not the box or the decorations. The actual tree.
She would assemble and decorate it once, and at the end of the holiday, wrap it in a plastic bag and slide the fully decorated tree into the closet until the following year. A novel idea which might make Christmas in July bearable.
But someone else has to wear the Santa suit.
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