Hey, it's Brian, and I know you probably weren't expecting to hear from me here in the

middle of July. But the simple truth is that, well, I missed you, and I just couldn't bear the

thought of waiting another entire year before coming

back to bring you more stories from Christmas past. So I'm here with this special surprise

bonus episode, just as we're a little past the halfway point to Christmas. Actually, I've got a bunch

of surprises in store for you, and I'll tell you all about them in just a few minutes.

So make sure you listen all the way to the end of this episode to get the full scoop.

But first, let's learn a little something about that strange and somewhat mysterious custom

known as Christmas in July. Hope you enjoy. Well, here we are in the middle of the year with summer in full

swing, beaches and barbecues, road trips and school vacation. The days are longer and the

nights are warmer and the air is more humid and thick with the smell of flowers and freshly cut grass and sunscreen.

And somewhere amid all of this, in tweets and Facebook and Instagram posts,

in print advertisements and TV commercials for sales at auto dealerships,

in summer programming on the Hallmark Channel,

we're told, it's Christmas in July. Christmas in July? Like, what does that even mean?

Is it just something people made up for summer sales and promotions? Do some people really

celebrate Christmas in July? July is wintertime in Australia, after all. Is that where all this

comes from? Or is it maybe a halfway to Christmas celebration for people like me, for whom one

Christmas a year just isn't enough? Well, there's actually a little bit of truth in all of those

things, and yet it's none of those things specifically. Christmas in July evolved from many different sources

for many reasons, all of which got us to where we are today, with a sort of vague concept

with Christmas imagery and festivity occurring smack dab in the middle of the dog days.

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