Late last January, ROMANTIC HOMES asked if I would be interested in doing an article about Christmas in Provence… Before they could say another word, I was jumping up and down like a crazy elf. To say I was excited is an understatement. ROMANTIC HOMES didn't need the article nor the photos until July 2008, but since it was only a month after Christmas, I thought I might as well get a head start and do the article sooner than later, since it felt closer to Christmas then July would feel.
I started to prepare for the photo shoot, and then realized I was going to celebrate my birthday party, I couldn't have Christmas decor at my 50th birthday bash, so I put aside the Christmas stuff and plan to get to the article once my birthday party passed by. Well as some of you know, the day before my birthday party my father took ill in California and I flew home to be by his side.
The Christmas boxes and birthday party decor lived on my living room floor for the next seven months.
Of course the idea of the Christmas story did not dance in my head during the months I was with my dad in the hospital. Those sugar plum thoughts were replaced with renewed faith and sadness. Months after my father died, I received an email from ROMANTIC HOMES asking about the Christmas in Provence article…
Oh no! I told them I forgot and that I was in California… that I couldn't do the article because I wasn't in France, but I could put something together in California, if they didn't mind. They loved the idea… after talking to them I thought to myself, "Now, how in the hell am I going to whip up Christmas in JULY?" I couldn't do it at my mother's house, that was just too crazy given how she was feeling… and where was I going to gather Christmas decor… I know Christmas starts earlier and earlier in the stores, but hey this was a 110° and not even the 4th of July!
Then as quick as Santa coming down the chimney, I had an idea… or I should say I have a cousin. (Do you know how lucky it is to have a million cousins?) I called my cousin Judy, who has enough seasonal stuff of every kind in her closets to make an entire mall jealous.
Judy jumped to the jolly news of Christmas in July in the heat of summer. She isn't as crazy as me, but she loves helping distraught elves, and I love her for it! We took out her Christmas stuff, wrapped fake Christmas boxes, hung the stockings with care, and played Christmas music. I thought it would be kind of cool to make hot totties (that sounds kind of naughty know that I think of it…"Hot Totties?" is that how you say/spell it?) Anyway, Judy drew the line and said I was nuttier than a fruit basket.
We set up a Christmas tree too. It felt like Christmas, I felt happy, it seemed like a little dream in the midst of such sadness… and then right then and there I knew the gift, the hope… the grace that faith brings… love never dies, love lives and holds out its hand in the most life giving ways…
Christmas in July.
The article came out last week in the ROMANTIC HOMES Christmas Special. I haven't seen it yet, and you might not see it either because I think my cousin Judy bought every copy.
… so I am adding a few extra photos that didn't make the final cut.
California Christmas vintage-cousin Judy style… doesn't she have a ton of cranberry colored dishes! I could have easily slipped a setting for eight in my suitcase and she would have never missed them.
As you can see I am going to be on Santa's bad girl list…again.
…. by the way when I returned to France (in September), Christmas and my birthday party decor were still hanging out on the living room floor. I thought about keeping it there… but Judy was coming over to visit, and I didn't want to burn her out on Christmas!
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Links to Vintage Christmas Decor to stuff your stockings:
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