Slice of life: Celebrating Christmas should be restricted to December

Merry Christmas!

I didn’t just fall off the turnip or zucchini truck; little too soon for green chile. Just wishin’ you a Merry Christmas in July.

For those of you who pledged to start your Christmas shopping early, this is your wake-up call.

Christmas is my absolutely most favorite time of the year. The Nativity of Our Lord. But do I want to deck the halls in July?

Of course Christmas can be and should be every day. We can adore Our Lord all year around. In fact, some cities, such as Albuquerque and Abilene, Texas, have 24-hour, 365-day a year Adoration chapels to Our Lord.

But this “Christmas in July” concept is really one of two things: One, a commercial excuse for more sales; or two, a time when seemingly normal, sane people, usually found in strange, faraway places, like Europe, Australia or Ruidoso, long for cooler temperatures of winter and so they deck their halls and sing “Feliz Navidad!”

As much as I love Christmas, I like July to be July. For one thing, my dad’s name is “July.” That’s what his name, “Julio,” means in English.

My daughter, Laura, and sister Becky, are also July babies.

I don’t want Christmas in July and I don’t want July during Christmas.