Origins of Christmas in July
Because of the retail tie-in, it might come as a surprise that Christmas in July did not originate as a marketing ploy. Nope, the first reference to this prelude to the season came in an 1894 English translation of an 1892 French opera, “Werther.” In the story, a group of children rehearses a Christmas song in July, to which a character responds: “When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season.”Country Living magazine has traced the origins of Christmas in July celebrations to a summer camp in North Carolina. As part of their experience at Keystone Camp in Brevard, about 35 miles south of Asheville, campers would use their arts-and-crafts skills to create a gift for a fellow camper. At the end of the week, campers would dress in flannel pajamas and drink mugs of hot cocoa while they waited for Santa to arrive on the back of a maintenance truck. The only way to summon the man in red, Page Ives Lemel recalls, was to sing Christmas carols at the top of their lungs.Lemel is director of Keystone, the fourth generation in her family to hold the title. Last year, to commemorate its 100th anniversary, the camp chronicled its history in a new book. Lemel says that as she flipped through an early draft, she learned that the first time anyone was known to have celebrated Christmas in July was at Keystone, at the behest of the camp’s whimsical, creative co-founder Fannie Holt.The camp’s first midsummer noel was held July 24-25, 1933, Lemel says in the magazine. Eventually, elves, reindeer and Mrs. Claus would accompany Santa, who always wore his cozy red suit, despite the smoldering summer temps.“The fact that we didn’t lose Santa to a heat stroke was pretty fortunate,” she says.— Lisa Denton
How to get your Christmas on
Want to get a jump-start on your Christmas spirit? Here are some ideas.QVC and HSNQVC kicked off its 31st annual Christmas in July celebration on July 1. Special programming this week and next leads up to a two-day finale set for July 31-Aug. 1, when some of the network’s biggest seasonal merchandisers (the Scott Brothers, Plow & Hearth, Jim Shore, Valerie Parr Hill) are featured. Fall and harvest merchandise comes later in August. HSN has finished its Christmas in July programming and is focusing on its birthday finale the rest of the month. Both home shopping channels feature Christmas items on their websites — what hasn’t sold out on-air.Hallmark ornamentsHallmark Gold Crown stores and Hallmark.com introduced more than 200 ornaments earlier this month as part of the company’s annual Keepsake Ornament premiere event. This year marks the 46th year of the signature ornaments, which began in 1973 as a collection of six glass balls and 12 yarn figures, according to a news release. The entire Keepsake line for 2018 includes more than 400 ornaments, ranging from snowmen to “Star Trek” collectibles. More than half premiered July 14-22, and the rest will be rolled out online and in stores in coming weeks.Hallmark moviesAs a tie-in to the ornaments premiere, Hallmark Channel devotes much of its July schedule to Christmas movies. The formulaic plots have inspired critical wrath as well as drinking games (with hot chocolate, of course), but the movies wouldn’t air if they weren’t watched. Signal Mountain native Rachel Boston, who has several Hallmark movies to her credit, stars in “Ice Sculpture Christmas,” airing at 8 a.m. Thursday. She plays Callie Shaw, an aspiring chef whose “passions for cooking and ice sculpting are met with romance and Christmas spirit.” Who could’ve guessed?AXS TVThis cable and satellite network is going hard-core for the holidays on Saturday with Christmas specials from Jennifer Nettles, Chris Isaak, Michael McDonald, Jessica Simpson, Faith Hill, Rod Stewart, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and, wait for it, Twisted Sister, among others. Music starts at 10:30 a.m.Bell ringersThe Salvation Army kicks off registration for Christmas volunteers with a reception at 5 p.m. today at its ReCreate Cafe, 800 McCallie Ave. Guests will be treated to cookies, cider and a short presentation on ways to get involved this holiday season.Festive townsIn a July 12 post, food website Delish.com offers a list of 10 towns that celebrate Christmas in July. Some are only on designated days, such as the Byers’ Choice festival in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, home of the famous Caroler figures. The festival is July 25-28. The museum is open year-round. Some places, including North Pole, New York, and Santa Claus, Indiana, celebrate all month. Closest to Chattanooga is the annual Christmas in July Festival in West Jefferson, North Carolina. Its annual observance (held July 7 this year) was begun 32 years ago to promote the local Christmas tree industry.— Lisa Denton
Most folks haven't thought about Christmas since Santa shimmied down the chimney seven months ago.
With no official sightings of the big guy this summer, we can only imagine he's taking it easy somewhere. Maybe he's chillin' at the North Pole, but if he vacays like the rest of us dream of, we're thinking tropical beach, Hawaiian shirt, festive cocktail (we hear he favors Claus-mopolitans).
Even if Santa's a no-show, the holiday is hard to ignore. There are actually several places around town, online and on TV where it's looking a lot like Christmas. Yes, Christmas in July.
Not to be confused, thankfully, with Hallothanksmas, the October onslaught of Halloween candy, Thanksgiving turkey and Christmas gifts.
No, as phenomenons go, Christmas in July is more blip than blowout, just a pleasing quirk of phonetics and timing. Christmas in February? Too soon. Christmas in August? Too ugh.
Maybe Christmas in June should have caught on, since June is exactly six months past December. But say it aloud: Christmas in June just lies there. Christmas in July has jazz hands.
And sweltering heat. Who wouldn't start wishing for Christmastime temps when it's 90 degrees in the shade? Like Southtown in "The Year Without a Santa Claus," Chattanooga might be ready for a short-lived weather trade between the volcano-dwelling Heat Miser and his blizzard-loving brother Snow Miser. Or at least a mass-marketed reminder of winter fun.
Not everyone's on the bandwagon. There are plenty who bah-humbug the sight of Christmas trees and decor in stores this time of year. They were probably some of the same folks who temporarily broke the internet last week nabbing deals during Amazon Prime Day. And retailers including Walmart, Target and Kohl's had some version of Black Friday in July sales to compete. Different names, same marketing push.
Some retailers have become more mindful of the backlash over Christmas creep, a term coined in the mid-1980s to describe the appearance of Christmas merchandise ever earlier each year. Last year, Target made news when it announced it was waiting to put out holiday displays at its entrances until after Thanksgiving. Worth noting: The decision applied only to entrances; Christmas merchandise was already in stores.
In a 2013 Facebook post, Hobby Lobby defended its midsummer rollout of fall and Christmas merchandise with a reminder that its crafting customers, designers and DIY'ers need time to design, create and sell their finished goods online and at fairs and craft shows early in the season. "Interestingly enough," the post noted, "some of our customers want this merchandise even earlier in the year."
Consumerist, a former online offshoot of Consumer Reports, notes that the arts-and-crafts chain's Christmas creep has gotten earlier through the years. In 2008, says the website, the store started selling Christmas trees in August. In 2009, it kicked off holiday sales in July. In 2010, Christmas merch was available in June. In 2014, you could load up in late May.
Some stores deck the halls all year. For some shoppers, no trip to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, would be complete without a stop in the 43,000-square-foot Incredible Christmas Place to scope out an Elf on the Shelf or marvel at the latest Christopher Radko ornaments. The Smoky Mountains landmark bills itself as "the most popular store" in the Pigeon Forge-Gatlinburg area.
For real immersion, check out its sister property, The Inn at Christmas Place, where all the rooms are decorated for Christmas year-round. Santa Suite, anyone?
Victoria Jones, director of marketing, says the inn adds special programming twice a year, in December and July, and a team of three decorators makes sure there's Christmas in every corner, from the towering trees in the two lobbies to the glockenspiel clock counting down to Santa's next appearance.
"Our motto is 'Celebrating the Spirit of Christmas Every Day of the Year,'" she says.
Not every Christmas purveyor goes full-on Bavarian-style village like those Pigeon Forge properties. Some stores take a stealth approach. But they're out there. Because Christmas sells.
"We have Christmas shoppers year-round," confirms Ryan Bush, owner of Dirty Jane's Antiques in Red Bank. "As far as collectors go, people who are going to buy something for decorating, Christmas is the biggest draw by far."
The whole store won't transition into red and green and silver and gold until about September, Bush says, but it's always Christmas, a distinctly vintage Christmas, in one of A's Antiques' multiple booths.
"It always gets a lot of attention," she says.
At Yesteryear Antiques & Memories, one of a cluster of antiques dealers behind the East Ridge Cracker Barrel, Christmas in July has been a marketing ploy since the store's earliest days. Shelia Johnson, a partner in the business with her sister and their husbands, says Yesteryear opened in December 2014, giving them a shortened Christmas sales season.
So for the first couple of Julys, they devoted a week or two to rush-the-season sales.
"This is the second full year of doing the complete month," Johnson says. "Last year when we did the whole month [for the first time], it was just so good and people loved it so much that we decided to do it the whole month again."
Johnson says several of their vendors "go all over the place" collecting vintage ornaments, ceramic Christmas trees and retro blow molds to sell in their booths, and the store is filled with their finds.
One day last week, a customer from Florida loaded up 16 blow molds, the large, illuminated, molded-plastic decorations that first became popular in the 1940s and '50s. Johnson says the customer bought five blow molds last year and returned for a larger haul this year. "She just brought her trailer and filled it full."
Johnson believes one reason Christmas in July works is because it coincides with vacations.
"People come in the summer when they have an opportunity to travel," she says. "They may not have time closer to Christmas."
Johnson says most of Yesteryear's remaining Christmas merchandise will be put away at the end of the month and won't reappear until the holiday season begins in earnest.
And Christmas music will be on full-time then too, not just on weekends like it is in July. Not that customers have complained about hearing Burl Ives instead of The Beach Boys.
"We tell them we're trying to make them feel cooler," Johnson says.
Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.