Thursday, July 19, 2012

it's hot, so think cool thoughts

It is hot and humid, normal for July. 


Something that has become normal for July is Christmas in July.  Looking at frosty images and thinking about Christmas is fun for a day, just as I spend a fair amount of time wishing for summer in the depths of winter, while look through seed catalogs.  People in the southern hemisphere celebrate the holiday on the same day we however it is their summer there, some people also celebrate Christmas  on July 25th, which is During their winter season.

One story I particularly like, about the  relatively recent origins of the idea in Australia is that a group of Irish tourists who traveled to Australia's Blue Mountains, for a the skiing. found the snowy mountains made them think of Christmases back home and they persuaded the resort owner to put up a Christmas Tree and have a traditional Christmas feast.  It was such a success that the resort owner made it a yearly event.

~all cards from http://www.etsy.com/shop/missgaylee

I could enjoy sitting in front of the TV with the fan going full blast enjoying an icy cold beer and watching "A Christmas Story".  It's funny but it has to be at least 85F before beer tastes good to me.
And did you know, and you probably do it you watch  "24 hours of  A Christmas Story"  that all of that snow had to be trucked in???

But my cynical side always thought that it was some sort of gimmick to get people to shop for Christmas early, or to buy the left overs from last year at bargain prices, before the new stock came in.  Even though I would love to think that is because Christmas us something so many of us look forward to, and in fact the custom has a more practical, and altruistic side also.
Anyway! I looked it up and here are some information on the the subject from Wikipedia via poor Richards Almanac and http://ourfriendben.wordpress.com.

* The first “Christmas in July” party was celebrated by an Ohio fraternity in July 1884.
* The first actual use of the phrase “Christmas in July” was in an 1894 English translation of the French opera Werther: “When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season.”
* In 1933, a girls’ camp in North Carolina began celebrating an annual Christmas in July, complete with a tree, gifts, and even a visit from Santa Claus.
* In 1940, Preston Sturges directed a Hollywood comedy film called “Christmas in July.”
* In 1942, a pastor at a church in Washington, D.C. instituted the annual celebration of “Christmas Presents in July,” which he had brought from his earlier post in Philadelphia, complete with a gift-covered Christmas tree. His goal was to collect presents in plenty of time to distribute them to the church’s worldwide missions. By 1946, the Christmas in July service began to be broadcast on the radio, that era’s equivalent to television.
* During World War II, the U.S. Post Office, in conjunction with the U.S. Army and Navy, launched a Christmas in July campaign to make sure servicemen and -women overseas got their Christmas cards, correspondence and gifts in time for Christmas.
* The advertising industry picked up on the trend and turned it into a sales opportunity for their clients as early as 1950, when “Christmas in July” sales were first advertised in print

Pretty cool.huh?
Not every Christmas is a happy one, but so many hold good memories, even if  those memories are just of seing the lights on one's drive home from work., each year has some meaning to most of us,, though we may have to back a few years to find it.       \
Happy Christmas in July

YUM!, guest blogger on making Naan....something I am new to and still working on

  Naan is tasty!   I wanted to make some, and from there on out, wellllllllllll, it's been a learning experience!   And I don't give...