kiwidogy_max wrote:Do they normally show Chritmas movies on TV in July? I had never really looked. What types of things do people do for Christmas in July parties? I would like to start that up in 2012.
There is a bit of info on the net about it. In fact, I think that is how I found this group, on my annual Christmas in July web search. :-)
When I was in the US, some channels have movies. Hallmark or Family or Cartoon network would be ones to watch. It is also fun to ignore regular programming and just watch your christmas dvd´s you do not usually have time for during the regular season. I used to tape much more stuff than I had time to watch during december. Some particular suggestions are: Christmas in July with Dick Powell and Rudolph and Frosty´s Christmas in July. Also, Off Season with Hume Cronin is great!
We celebrate for one week. I usually put up some garland and hope to make pennant banners this year that are easily put up. It is just too hot to do more. Hubby suggested we put up an american "liberty" tree with red white and blue ornaments, but we shall see. As stated above, it is sometimes just too hot to move. No AC in Europe. Then we immerse ourselves in christmas music and media, no non christmas allowed, which means we don't turn on regular tv (I don´t watch much regular tv anyway in sweden). I have some Old Time radio discs from
www.otrcat.com which we play instead of listening to the regular radio. In the past I have tried to make a nice Christmas in July meal on Saturday evening like hawaiian chicken, but this year I think we will have a simple swedish smörgåsbord with meatballs and prins sausage (like little smokies). Easy stuff to prepare on top of the overn rather than baked chicken. We also try to take a Christmas in July cruise on the local baltic sea line. They serve a a buffet that is very similar to the swedish christmas bord (table) and we watch christmas movies in the cabin. I always wanted to have a white elephant party in July but our friends think we are weird enough, so we have not. Swedes to not understand the concept of "white elephant parties" as they find it rude to 1) regift something someone else has given them and 2) they find it rude to "take something away from someone else" even if it is supposed to be part of the fun. We tried it at a midwinter party and it flopped. So now we just have an inexpensive annonymous gift exchange. It is the closest I can get. If I were in the US, I would love to go to one of the christmas hotels or amusement parks I have read about. We have one in Sweden called Tomteland, we even applied for jobs there last year, but no luck. We might make it out to visit once we have jobs and regular income! I almost forgot to mention, Christmas in July gifts must be under $10 or bought at after christmas sales.
Last year we were on vacation in Northern Sweden and made an american christmas dinner for my swedish sister in laws family of ham, turkey, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and green beans. I wore a short sleeved snow man t shirt my mother sent from san Antonio, They had a blast! As I prefer to miss the annual Midsommer drinking fest, we thought this might be a nice tradition to share. As we will both soon be jobless again, we shall see. It was GREAT fun. They think I am strange anyway.
That is probably much more than you needed to know. As a side note, we also celebrate Christmas in August which is only a one day celebration with only the "merry christmas" sign put up and a movie with a more festive than usual dinner. It is still hot. Christmas in August gifts are kept at 10 SEK (about $1).