Christmas in July is always one of my favorite days of the year.
And I’m not the only one. One of our staff members told me the other day that he loves Christmas in July more than regular Christmas Day. That may be a bit of a stretch, but nonetheless, I relate deeply to the sentiment.
We spend the night before, decking out (with boughs of holly) Eden Hall with holiday decorations hanging from every light fixture, walls covered in garland, and a handful of Christmas trees spread about.
We keep the secret from the staff and campers.
Staff come down to Eden Hall later on that night before Christmas in July to find an unexpected Christmas Eve party.
Campers wake up to the surprise of Christmas music playing over the loudspeakers, and come down to a Christmas feast full of pancakes with every type of sugary topping they could imagine. Santa, Mrs. Claus, and loads of elves roam about dishing out all of the Christmas candy a kid could ever want.
Christmas in July is an excuse for us to surprise all of camp and give everybody the opportunity to step into a magical world different from the day-to-day.
This is one of the best things about camp – it’s a space for everybody to step away from the frenetic pace of everyday life and return to a state of rest and play, a place where kids (and adults) can be free to just be kids and not have to be anything else.
A place where Santa, Jack Frost, Frosty the Snowman, and other characters come to life in the middle of July in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and where kids can run around hundreds of acres to try and find them, overthrow the Grinch, and save Christmas.
We don’t have to do any of this – it could be just another day at camp.
But we do it anyway because we love the chance to surprise everybody with the wonder and magic of life.
Which just by chance happens to be the same surprise of Christmas: the wonder of a new human life whereby God came to live with us and among us, and surprise us back to life when we get lost and forget what this whole life thing is about anyway.
Merry Christmas in July to you, wherever you are!
May each of us catch a little of that Christmas spirit and spread some joy and kindness today and be surprised by the wild gift of being a human in this world!
– Austin Ashcraft
Camp Director
1 Comment
By Joyce Kilby /
This camp is so awesome! Love your zeal for making it a place to “step away”! My grandson is there now and I just know he is loving all the adventures, skills, new friends, surprises, etc. Thank you! 💙