Thursday, July 12, 2012

Christmas in July


I remember hearing about this when I was little and thinking that people who celebrated Christmas in the middle of summer were crazy.  They still are but this year, I'm one of them!

Not entirely out of choice though.  I'm working on the third book in the Mrs. Brentley's Girls series, which will be out in late November 2012.  It is a Christmas story that I've put off writing for awhile because I wanted to be in the holiday mood.  The problem is that Christmas is a very busy time and I never get any writing done.  I've decided that the book has to get done this year, no more procrastination!

Thus I have decorated my writing area with a few Christmas bits, I've been listening to some Christmas songs in the car, and I'm reading up on a few Christmas themed romance novels!  It is a great chance to read my friend Penny Watson's latest hot son of Santa book, Sweet Magik.  Also I'm rereading Lisa Kleypas' Christmas novels.  My favorite by Kleypas is her recent modern one, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor.

I'm still irked that the local ACMoore has an aisle filled with last year's Christmas stuff so that they can celebrate Christmas in July, even though last week the same items could be found in the clearance aisle for half the price!  And I'm not about to give gifts or sing carols with the family.  Still it is interesting to attempt a second Christmas in the middle of the year.  It makes me wonder if I will now be more excited for the real Christmas this year or less excited.

Have any of you celebrated Christmas in July or some other off schedule holiday?

9 comments:

  1. Back when our first child was a toddler and the 2nd one hadn't been born yet, we took a trip to the North Pole Village by Colorado Springs. It was during the Summer so we chuckled at the timing of it all. My wife is a Christmas nut and would celebrate year round if she could. We usually have our trees out before Veteran's Day and put them away well into January.

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  2. We haven't celebrated Christmas in July, but we did the next best thing...celebrated Christmas in Hawaii. In 2009, we went to Hawaii with Belinda's parents and our children in December. In fact, we landed at the airport, which is adjacent to Pearl harbor, on December 7. While we didn't stay through Christmas, we got a taste for a "Polynesian Christmas" with Santa arriving on a porpoise. It was quite interesting to see how a different culture celebrates a holiday. I'm sure no Hawaiian goes around singing "White Christmas." There's not much chance of snow, except on the Big Island on top of the highest volcano...er, mountain.

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  3. Whoops, I meant 1999. Our boys were in college in 2009 and Belinda and I were suffering from "maltuition"...there wasn't any traveling to Hawaii that year.

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  4. No, I haven't but I couldn't help chuckle at the thought of you sitting in front of your PC singing Christmas carols :)

    Maria

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  5. Randy-How fun, it is interesting when you find those locations that seem to celebrate the holiday all year round!

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  6. Steve-I've always been a bit jealous of your Hawaii in winter vacations, they sound wonderful and it would be so unique to see how they celebrate it!

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  7. Maria-The best part is how much my husband has gotten into it. Tonight he is filling my entire i-pod shuffle with Christmas music! Even more songs to hum to as I write!

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  8. Thanks for the shout-out, Lindsay! My biggest problem writing a holiday series all year long is when Starbucks stops making their gingerbread lattes after winter is over. Damn them! I like to start each day with a gingerbread latte before I start writing the Klaus Brothers Series. Hope you enjoy the book! :^)

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  9. Penny-what a wonderful rule to live by! I had wondered how you handle writing Christmas themed books all year long, makes sense now!

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