Christmas In July

Some of you may feel a little bit like Scrooge or the Grinch when you hear about Christmas in July. If you know me, then you know that I am all about it! I love Christmas so much I'm down to decorate and celebrate anytime! My type-A mind has figured out we're halfway to Christmas and oh, we have ten more paychecks before the big day. I hope it doesn't stress you out as stores roll out their Christmas in July sales. We tend to associate Christmas with a fluffy man in a red suit, some magical reindeer and lots and lots of presents. My question is, why do we limit Christmas to just December? We truly don't know when Jesus was born. Shouldn't we celebrate Him all year long? Shouldn't we always have that special feeling we get around Christmas and Jesus' coming?

During this time of year we all tend to get cranky from the heat, dealing with children out of school, stressful family vacations and whatever else you do in the summer. We start to get a little bogged down feeling "bah humbug". Just like greedy Scrooge who loved money and power more than anything else, and the Grinch who just wanted to stop Christmas from ever happening, they were able to find joy. We too should find joy when we think about Christmas. Yes, it's a sweltering July with a heat index of 105. But we have the opportunity to skip the fuss of the holidays and celebrate the real reason we find joy. As Scrooge said in the end, "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." --Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol).

I think we too can learn some new things if we revisit the Christmas story.

Katie Howell, Music Director