Oh We Need a Little Christmas...In July?

Well, Fourth of July was a bust (no fireworks shows, no picnics or gatherings allowed in my state, and restaurants, movies, museums, beaches, etc were all shut back down right before 4th)...so what to do now? How about instead, have a little CHRISTMAS IN JULY! I just did this for myself for a treat and to feel a "happy feeling" for a change amidst all the Coronavirus stuff--I treated myself to an entire weekend of CHRISTMAS! Why don't YOU do it too, for your family? Here's what I did: first, I have a tiny tabletop tree with white lights that I decorated with little tiny ornaments and you can do the same--get your kids a small tabletop artificial tree (Home Depot still has them) and decorate with little ornaments (I used ones that are kitchen themed that I had so it doesn't really scream Christmas--I'm keeping it up year round now to cheer me!). Then, BAKING!!! I found a good recipe for gingerbread bread which I made and I cooked Cornish hens with veggies for dinner and I like to make homemade ice cream so I made vanilla ice cream and crushed up candy canes (which I still have) and put it in the ice cream (candy cane ice cream!), then I have peppermint hot cocoa and I made some homemade ice cream from that also. I was going to bake cupcakes but it was just me who eats them so I bought two instead and put peppermint topping on them (yum!). You could spend the weekend baking cookies and cupcakes or cakes and anything else you would make for Christmas! You can also do Christmas crafts--my craft is knitting little dog sweaters (sold on https://www.etsy.com/shop/PupPupSweaters !) and I worked ONLY on knitting Christmas sweaters that weekend! Then, of course, I watched Christmas movies! Like Miracle on 34th Street, Elf, An American Girl Doll Holiday, White Christmas, plus some Lifetime Christmas movies I had enjoyed in December. I even bought myself a gift! YOU can recreate the magic of Christmas for your family ("Haul out the holly, Put up the tree before my spirit falls again...") and bring some cheer in the middle of this Coronavirus Downer, and prove that what Santa said in Miracle on 34th Street really IS true: "Oh Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind..."