When Christmas Comes Early
Asking someone how they feel about Christmas in July tends to be a lightning rod question. People have strong opinions, which tend to be theatrically laced with pointed eye rolls or soft-eyed sighs. For some people, the manufactured holiday offers a cozy reprieve from the dog days of summer. For others, it’s another overly hyped form of modern commercialism. (In my anecdotal experience, these people tend to dislike Valentine’s Day too.)
I think I’m the only person who feels like Christmas in July snuck on me. When I took my kids to the pool this past week, I was stunned to find lifeguards in Santa hats and an ornament decorating station. Santa Claus arrived wearing a Hawaiian shirt and swim trunks. My son eventually ran over to me, a big smile stretching across his face, and yelled, “Mom! I just took an ‘elfie!”
As I sat on the edge of the pool, humming with Mariah Carey in the oppressive heat, I caught myself wondering: When did this become a thing?
It’s actually been a thing for a while now. Christmas in July began as an impulsive, creative idea by a big dreamer. In 1933, at Keystone Camp in Brevard, Borth Carolina, a camp co-founder created Christmas in July as a celebration for campers. The special day served as an opportunity for connection, complete with caroling, a Christmas tree, and Santa Claus.
The comedy film, Christmas in July, brought the idea to the attention of a national audience in 1940. During World War II, communities latched on to Christmas in July as an opportunity to hold gift drives for soldiers serving abroad. The U.S. Post Office supported these efforts to send midsummer holiday gifts to raise morale.
Despite its history, Christmas in July became most familiar to me when the Hallmark Channel jumped on board this train. Hallmark celebrated its first Christmas in July of 2012. The programming event was immediately successful, particularly among coveted female viewers. Just as Hallmark’s Christmas in July has been a boon for the network, retailers also realize a summertime boost through this annual event. Businesses often now use Christmas in July to raise sales, connect with customers, and move inventory.
Christmas in July presents consumers with the same seasonal fun and budgeting dilemmas as the actual Christmas. Holiday gift-giving has become its own kind of sport, with savvy buyers hunting for deals year-round and retailers rolling out holiday prep in early autumn. In this haze of twinkles lights and holiday playlists, it’s easy to forget that gifts are meant to be expressions of love, thoughtfulness, and connection. They’re not meant to fix relationships but to reflect them.
So, I think if Christmas in July is here to stay, we should also carve out time (by a faux fire, perhaps) to focus on what really matters in celebrating the holiday season. O. Henry’s classic short story, The Gift of the Magi, always reminds me of the values I want to have.
O. Henry’s iconic story was first published in 1905. If you haven’t read it, I encourage you to do so. (It’s only the day after Christmas in July, so you might as well give it a go now. It’s short - and, by Hallmark’s festive standards, still timely.) Hopefully, it’s not a spoiler alert for me to offer the basic premise of the story: a husband and wife don’t much money, and they give everything they have to each other. She sells her hair to afford a chain for his beloved pocket watch; he sells his pocket watch for combs for her hair.
In literary circles, The Gift of the Magi is considered a masterful example of irony. While it is this, I also consider it a potent example of a specific exchange of energy.
Too often, gifts aren’t displays of love but of longing. Someone over-gives in the hopes of strengthening a connection; on the other side of that energy, the recipient feels stifled. Others don’t give when they don’t value certain relationships; of course, feeling forgotten would make for a painful holiday. In The Gift of the Magi, the energy shared between both characters is completely matched. They pour everything they have into an entirely reciprocal relationship. It’s breathtaking to read, to envision. With very little money, they manage to purchase gifts that say exactly what they mean.
As interpersonal relationships have become trickier in the digital era and gift-giving can be a panacea for what is broken, The Gift of the Magi serves as a powerful reminder that gifts ultimately aren’t the point. What matters most is finding balanced relationships where we are treated with the same kindness, consideration, and respect that we give. In healthy relationships, gifts are ancillary to the sense of value that’s already given and received.
I’m not sure how I feel about Christmas in July, but I do believe that O. Henry’s timeless message of love and sacrifice is worth remembering year-round. And if we choose to recall it poolside while wearing a Santa hat?
All the better.
