"When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season." ~Édouard Blau 1892

Did you know the Theory of Christmas in July dates back to 1892 from a French play? It was further ingrained when churches started doing Christmas programs in July to increase donations for presents to be distributed for charity at actual Christmas time.

Through the decades various industries, companies and organizations have used “Christmas in July” as themes to kick off campaigns, create awareness ahead of the season etc. For example, the US POSTAL Service in conjunction with the military who used the theme in 1944 at a luncheon in NY, to kick off an overseas mailing campaign for service personnel.

In more recent years, it has become an annual tradition for companies like Hallmark and QVC to coincide with item releases such as the keepsake collection of ornaments.

Christmas in July is not exclusive to the United States and merchandising opportunities but celebrated (in small amounts) around the world in places like Denmark, Canada, Australia, Madagascar, Bolivia,  Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Africa and New Zealand.

Many people go as far as having small celebrations, small scale decoration and even presents. For an actual Christmas in July celebration many people use July 25^th but July 12^th is also popular as the halfway point to Christmas (Half of 24 (Christmas eve) is 12 and Half of 12 (December) is 6/July).

Recently, I have seen some beautiful white trees with RED and Blue décor to celebrate 4^th of July and Christmas in July simultaneously. While we do not go so far as doing an actual Christmas celebration, I do enjoy watching the Hallmark movies, browsing store selections and seeing what is poplar for the year décor wise.

More importantly we start getting active on our Santa Portrait Group (Facebook) and booking our time slots for Santa/Holiday Photos. This is the time of year I have to start organizing our Holiday Calendar, making sure paperwork is filed with the Parade organizers for our float and will often have a tent at a local festival. This year we will be in Kernersville at the 50^th Anniversary of the Kernersville Raider’s Carshow! GO RAIDERS!

I also lock in our official Design tweaks to our Santa set and start shopping for items needed. I like to go Antique shopping at this time of year to bring in “new” vintage toys for the set. I have already picked up a few new pieces and am so excited about the updated set(s).

Now, we ALWAYS get a little flack for being so GUNG HO Christmas (even though I try to keep social media blasts low key). There’re always some naysayers with their undies in a twist when Hobby Lobby puts out their Christmas merchandise but here is what I have to say about all that. People who craft, who decorate professionally, who build sets or basically do ANYTHING that relies on holiday items to earn income HAVE to be 6 months ahead of the holidays to profit from them. (I know, I said the evil P word. While I love photography -another P word-, I do have to make a living so yes, Santa Photography needs to contribute to my income no matter how much fun I have doing it!) Honestly, when people show up at those fall festivals, and Santa sets in November, I don’t hear any complaints about everyone being prepared (look another P word).

So enjoy a refreshing blitz of Christmas during the draining heat of summer, and check out our available dates and book your time slots! Our Snowy window will be back better than ever this year and our set is getting an upgrade and going traditional in colors! As always, we will be working with our amazing Hall of Fame Santa Jac!