Christmas in July

Posted by Tricia Hodges | Comments Off

It’s hot outside. Mosquitoes abound (at least here in the south). I bet you are fanning yourself as you are reading this. Ready for some cool thoughts for mid-summer? Our annual tradition will have you and your children smiling.

For one or two days right smack in the middle of summer we celebrate Christmas. Yes, Christmas in July! Prior to the big day, I make a Christmas list just like I do before December. I check my list twice to be sure we have all the supplies we need.

And there are gifts! The main focus of our day is making gifts for others. Christmas in July is an especially good time to make gifts for teachers. Sunday school, piano, choir, sports and all of those extracurricular activities that will be starting new again in a few, short weeks.

A CD cookie gift. This is simply decorating a paper CD sleeve. Even the youngest in your crowd can participate. Print out a message to attach or ask your child to write a personal message. ‘Thank you for teaching me’ or ‘Love, Susie.’ Then, save your stack of decorated CD sleeves. When it comes time to give a little gift around Christmas, bake your favorite batch of cookies and drop one in each sleeve. You’ll have less to do in December because of summer fun. Click over to Happybird’s Crafting Haven for full instructions.

A color poem for M&Ms. Another easy idea is readying the poem that goes with a bag of M&Ms. Print the poem out now and let your littlest ones match and decorate the colors. You can even attach the poems to sandwich bags. Come December, share a nice scoopful of candies and make a teacher smile. Click over to Domestically Speaking to print the sweet M&M poem.

Fill a shoe box. Since school supplies are on sale in July, why not pick up a few extra items for your Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes?

We also enjoy simple Christmas fun:

• Bake, decorate and enjoy Christmas sugar cookies. Star and tree shaped cookies are such fun in July!
• Watch Christmas movies. It’s a Wonderful Life!
• Listen to Christmas music – so refreshing.
• Make snowflakes.
• Draw a winter scene or pull out the cotton balls to decorate a construction paper scene with snow.

I even make a Christmas list now for the family. Tuck that list in my Evernote app so it is handy. I can be on the look out for gifts – over the next several months – as I am already in the store.

Christmas in July is an anticipated day of fun that just might ease the hectic five months from now.

…Jack Frost nipping at your nose…Yuletide carols being sung by a choir and folks dressed up like Eskimos…

Tricia gave up life in the drive thru lane for the joy-filled road home. She homeschools five children from preschool to middle school. You can find her facing that daily dose of chaos at Hodgepodge. There she writes about practical schooling strategies and shares how she is saving bucks and her sanity with the frugal recipes of her Southern roots. Tricia is also known as Hodgepodgemom.