This past weekend we celebrated Christmas in July, and it was so simple and sweet! For those who have no idea what Christmas in July is, it’s a southern tradition that apparently started in North Carolina (where I’m from). But, I actually haven’t celebrated it before this! I didn’t grow up with the tradition but would love for my kids to grow up looking forward to it. To me, Christmas in July just feels so imaginative, whimsical, and fun. Even the sound of it is like saying “pish posh!” or “when pigs fly!”
The idea behind Christmas in July is that for one day, you just do Christmassy things, eat Christmas food, listen to Christmas music, etc. We didn’t do gifts and I like it that way. It’s far away from actual Christmas, so it’s just a pop of fun in the calendar and by no means comes close to how much I go all out in December :)
This year, for our first Christmas in July, we just kept it very simple and listened to Christmas music, ate a vegetarian Christmas “plate” of food for dinner, watched a Christmas Prince on Netflix, and drank hot chocolate. I also diffused some cinnamon and pine essential oils to make the house smell like the holidays.
One of my fav Christmas albums! The Charlie Brown Christmas album is also so perfect and timeless.
My “vegetarian Christmas plate” consisted of mac n cheese, garlicky green beans, roasted brussel sprouts, and sweet potato (fries, haha).
I made the hot chocolate from scratch and it was the best!! Equal parts cocoa powder and sugar, a pinch of salt, whisked into simmering almond milk on the stove. I dashed in some vanilla extract at the end.
So cozy!
All in all, this was such a sweet beginning of a tradition and I think we’ll definitely continue to celebrate it. There are a lot of fun possibilities for Christmas in July with kids. Also, in case anyone is concerned that this is somehow sacrilegious (probably not but who knows), December 25 is just an arbitrary day chosen to be when we celebrate Christmas :) Astrologers have actually suggested (based on star patterns at the time) that the first Christmas occurred on June 17—my birthday! The point is, no one really knows when the first Christmas was, so I think it’s fine to give a nod to it in summer as well as celebrating in full-force in December.
I can’t wait for Christmas this year!!
Have you ever celebrated Christmas in July?