{"id":25169,"date":"2017-03-08T06:59:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-08T13:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/?p=25169"},"modified":"2017-03-08T06:59:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-08T13:59:25","slug":"celebrating-christmas-year-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/celebrating-christmas-year-round\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Christmas Year Round"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some people the Christmas<\/a> tree never comes down. <\/p>\n

Their reasons vary. <\/p>\n

And others just think it is weird. <\/p>\n

\u201cRight around this time of year you start hearing the uncomfortable comments,\u201d Mitzi Unger, 64, said from her Louisiana home. She has kept her tree up and decorated in various themes since 2011. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my husband was sick and then later died in December of 2011 we had the tree up for him,\u201d she explains. \u201cHe loved it, it made him happy. He requested Christmas<\/a> trees at his funeral and people made it happen. It was a wonderful and different kind of thing. It made for a happier goodbye. I keep it up for him because it\u2019s a happy thing for me, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as time has passed and new people enter into Mitzi\u2019s circle they don\u2019t know the story. <\/p>\n

They just see a Christmas<\/a> tree in March and they think it is odd. <\/p>\n

The same thing is true with those who chose to keep up Christmas<\/a> lights<\/a> or yard decorations<\/a> with a seasonal theme. In fact, in the news this week a neighborhood in Alabama is fighting a Grinch who wrote a letter to a neighbor complaining about Frosty and Rudolph still on the front lawn. <\/p>\n

It is not uncommon to read letters to the editor decrying the presence of Christmas<\/a> long after Christmas<\/a> is over. <\/p>\n

For Darryl Hawkins of Eden, Minnesota Christmas<\/a> has a year round presence in his home, too. He regularly works on what he calls his \u201cChristmas room\u201d. There the lights<\/a> are kept low with a Christmas<\/a> tree in one corner and a massive village scene permanently set up in another. A Christmas<\/a> train runs the length of room, circling the tree. <\/p>\n

\u201cChristmas is year round for me,\u201d he says. \u201cI listen to the music year round, maybe watch a Christmas<\/a> movie or two now and then. I participate on Christmas<\/a> forums online and in Facebook groups. Some people have boats, others garden or whatever. I just do Christmas<\/a>. I always try to add to it a little here and there. It\u2019s fun for me. I don\u2019t care if people think I\u2019m strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caroline Hardy runs a Christmas<\/a> shop year round in Tennessee. <\/p>\n

She says there are generally two types of people she sees roaming the aisles of her small shop: those who love<\/a> Christmas<\/a> any time and those who grumble at being there. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very real thing,\u201d Hardy says. \u201cSome people just can\u2019t handle Christmas<\/a> when it\u2019s not Christmas<\/a>. Our little store gets visits from tourists and they come here because it fits here in the setting. We\u2019re in the woods of the hill country. Something about it makes it a natural place for a Christmas<\/a> store. But even here where Christmas<\/a> is up all the time we hear the comments from those who think Christmas<\/a> belongs in December alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Florida, a place far from association with evergreens, Naomi Holden keeps a Christmas<\/a> tree up and visible in a large front room window. <\/p>\n

Holden is an interior design consultant by trade, a fact that somehow always comes up in conversation with neighbors who have grown used to her year round tree. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo me it is a mix of nostalgia and art,\u201d Holden says. \u201cI grew up in the northwest, and we had Christmas<\/a> trees everywhere. For me, this is what makes my home now feel like the home I had when I was a girl. A tree is a natural space for creating a look or celebrating a theme. I love<\/a> un-decorating the tree and remaking it into something new.\u201d <\/p>\n

Last July Holden\u2019s tree was festooned with small American flags and hot rod style model cars. She called it a patriotic whim, a design that took her nearly two weeks to complete.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s an outlet for me,\u201d Naomi admitted. \u201cI love<\/a> coming home to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of these are great examples of Christmas<\/a> celebration year round. But for others it is more than mere entertainment and creative outlets. Some look at it as a political statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a neighbor who just seethes at Christmas<\/a> time,\u201d said Ronald Zimmerman of Turlock, California. \u201cBut when January comes and he still sees Christmas<\/a> decorations<\/a> and lights<\/a> he starts sending letters. He contacts City Hall about the decorations<\/a> downtown. He writes the school about \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d on their sign. And by February he goes door to door asking us all to take stuff down. And that\u2019s why I keep my lights<\/a> up and on. Just for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zimmerman sees America as a land divided. Christmas<\/a> is just a small part of the divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t it great?\u201d Zimmerman says, \u201cWe live in a land where I can put out my flag and turn on my lights<\/a> and keep my Christmas<\/a> tree up if I want. And my neighbor can hate it, he can speak out against it, he can even go door to door to ask us to remove it and do anything he wants to broadcast or share his beliefs and we co-exist. He doesn\u2019t like me and I don\u2019t care for him but we\u2019re not killing each other. We both stand up for what we believe and that\u2019s different stuff. He\u2019s got a right to it and I\u2019ve got a right to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some advocates of religious freedom do not see the ongoing and sometimes over-the-top display of Christmas<\/a> as the best strategy. <\/p>\n

In Plantation, Florida the Hyatt Extreme Christmas<\/a> display has for years divided a community. <\/p>\n

Mark Hyatt and his family have traditionally showcased Christmas<\/a> with an impressive display of lights<\/a> and decorations<\/a> that draw thousands of visitors each year. But enthusiastic crowds created issues in the urban neighborhood that made controlling traffic and protecting property a challenge for city officials. <\/p>\n

Slowly complaints grew and frustrations boiled over until the Hyatts ended up in court, eventually winning their case against city that had hoped to shut them down. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat good did that situation really do for religious freedom or freedom of speech or even the celebration of Christmas<\/a>?\u201d asks Wendell Henderson, a fellow Christmas<\/a> light enthusiast from Missouri. <\/p>\n

\u201cChristmas is the celebration of the Prince of Peace<\/a>. You don\u2019t do that by angering people. You work with them. I think the city there got heavy-handed and then the Hyatts had to do what they did. But in the process of defending themselves they sent the wrong message about Christmas<\/a> and community. They should have found a way to work things out. They say the city made it impossible but we all saw what happened. They give the rest of us a tougher time in our celebration of Christmas<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christmas<\/a> watchers are anxious to see how Christmas<\/a> is exploited in the age of Donald Trump. <\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s presidential campaign famously featured Christmas<\/a> as a theme in promises to \u201cmake America great again\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve me,\u201d Trump has said, \u201cwe\u2019re going to say Merry Christmas<\/a> again\u201d. <\/p>\n

Joel Reinhart, a self-avowed Christmas<\/a> nut from New Jersey, bristles at what he sees coming. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou watch,\u201d Reinhart said. \u201cTrump is going to make a big thing about Christmas<\/a> being said in stores and his political opponents are going to rage about it. There will be protests, probably even picket lines in front of malls. The political divide will spill into Christmas<\/a> and we\u2019re going to lose the peace<\/a> and the love<\/a> and the magic of it all entirely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down South the feelings about all that run strong. <\/p>\n

In Louisiana, little Confederate flags will be on Mitzi Unger\u2019s Christmas<\/a> tree this spring. \u201cI better close the window for this theme,\u201d she says. \u201cMy Daddy would love<\/a> this but I doubt anyone else today understands that.\u201d<\/p>\n

She stops for a second to gather her emotions. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a private thing for me. Most of the time it is light hearted and fun. But sometimes it is more. And people don\u2019t understand that. I shouldn\u2019t have to explain it to them. A country that holds parades for people who sleep with their own gender you\u2019d think they would be okay with that, you know? I\u2019m not committing a crime here, I\u2019m celebrating what is important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unger laughs as she recalls one time a lady from church appearing on her doorstep with a large plastic tote in hand one Saturday morning in February. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to help you pack up that tree!\u201d the woman exclaimed. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told her I was never taking down my tree. I told her she could help me decorate it if she wanted, but it was never coming down. She just didn\u2019t know what to say.\u201d Mitzi said, laughing hard. \u201cPeople are pretty stupid about some things, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For some people the Christmas tree never comes down. Their reasons vary. And others just think it is weird. \u201cRight around this time of year you start hearing the uncomfortable comments,\u201d Mitzi Unger, 64, said from her Louisiana home. She has kept her tree up and decorated in various themes since 2011. \u201cWhen my husband […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","iawp_total_views":8,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,28,2,76],"tags":[637],"class_list":["post-25169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christmas-decorating","category-christmas-features","category-christmas-news","category-christmas-trends","tag-year-round-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mymerrychristmas.com\/x\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}