Christmas in July

    For those who know me, know I do NOT celebrate Christmas outside of the normal Christmas holiday. OH, I love Christmas. It's my favorite time. But I don't want to ruin the magic of Christmas by celebrating it all year round. I don't want to get tired of it. And too much of anything runs the risk of growing tired of it. So I don't listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies or have decorations out. 
    Now, my Dad was different. He would watch Christmas movies all year round. They bought a ton of Hallmark Christmas movies to watch anytime they want. Dad would tease me every time I went over when they were watching Christmas movies. He would say, "Oh look we are watching a Christmas movie!" He knew my rules and couldn't understand why I was so strict with them. I said it's just a personal preference. But you better believe when Christmas time comes, I decorate like crazy and drive everyone insane with movies and music.
    What also makes Christmas special to my dad is that is his birthday. So of course he loves Christmas even more. But seriously, he loved the season in general. It always made him happy. He would love to spend time with family and help those in need. I've heard a ton of stories about Christmases when my dad and his siblings were younger. Good times.
    I think this is the first year I am dreading Christmas... For obvious reasons. It will be the first Christmas without Dad and now without Teddy. Oh, I'm so grateful for the last Christmas we had with Dad. We made it the best we could and he seemed happy. One thing he said he wanted was Christmas with his family, so that's what he got. I even got him an ornament from the hospital that said that.

    Well, as the title states July is here and many people celebrate Christmas in July. Hey, you do you. If that's what makes you happy. I'm not big on doing that... well usually. But I decided to honor Dad last night. Mom has been watching Christmas movies on Hallmark this month, so I decided to break my own rule. Last night, Mark and I watched a Christmas movie. Well, I consider it a Christmas movie. It's called Shop Around The Corner with James Stewart. Dad loved that movie. He introduced it to me. So, for you Dad, I watched it last night. I survived without crying so that's a good thing. But this Christmas, I know I will be balling my eyes out.

What about you?
Do you celebrate Christmas in July?