Midsummer night’s Christmas
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S CHRISTMAS? WHY NOT...
Who would lance a new Christmas web shop in the middle of the summer?
At Affaire d’Eau we know how much Christmas means for a lot of people and how important Christmas can be, in whatever shape or form. That’s why we’ve decided to already share our new website, THE VINTAGE CHRISTMAS COMPANY this June. Christmas and winter seem inseparable but why not celebrate Christmas in the summer? In the southern hemisphere they in fact don’t know anything else. No matter how you look at it, Christmas there is always in the summer. On what feels like the 25th of June for us, Christmas-minded Australians and New-Zealanders prepare a stuffed turkey, put up the Christmas tree and decorate their house with all the Christmas paraphernalia they can think of. For them it’s the most normal thing in the world. What we get from that, here in our northern hemisphere, is the Poinsettia. For us it’s the most popular houseplant around Christmas, in Oceanea it’s just the plant that shows its red floral beauty around the 25th of June and has become a symbol for Christmas.
There’s nothing against celebrating Christmas in the summer in our hemisphere. There can be lots of reasons that make Christmas in the summer a practical choice. Do you want to be together with your family that spread all over the world and it’s difficult to get together in winter? Do you have a lot of friends and it’s just not possible to see everyone in the busy month of December? Around the 25th of June it might be easier to get together. Corona times might complicate matters but maybe there will be an opportunity later in the summer. On a long summer night ‘en petit commitée’? In the coming years a great Summer Christmas barbecue will definitely be possible. It might be difficult to find a real Christmas tree, but you just might find an artificial one for a reasonable price. Celebrating Christmas six months before the real date is a great reason for a party. So: get your Christmas ornaments out of their boxes, set up your Christmas tree in the garden or on your balcony. Compose a summer Christmas menu and invite all your friends for an epic Christmas Summer Party.
In all fairness, I think I personally prefer Christmas in winter, but I’ve never had the Australian experience. In the end Christmas is all about being together. A dear Austrian friend with a passion for the snowy mountains changed Vienna for Sydney when she fell in love. In the end she had to give up her love because she just missed winter, Christmas and everything around it too much. Of course, the problem was the distance between Australia and her family in Europa, not just Christmas and the winter traditions.
I once experienced a Midsummer Christmas at a large Dutch family. An invitation for their yearly traditional Christmas dinner was something to look forward to. But there were people (like me) that could never make it in winter and had to miss the feast. That’s why with high exception they organized a Midsummer night's Christmas for everyone that had had to miss it all these years. An epic summer Christmas feast that had everything, in evening clothes a with an extensive Christmas menu. And EPIC it was. I just want to say: Christmas is always possible, in summer or in winter, the important thing is to be together.
And an answer to that first question, why do we lance the new web shop already? It’s simpel. We just can’t wait to share all the beautiful Christmas ornaments we found at several small family businesses. We made a beautiful selection of ornaments and we want to share it with you. The anticipation of making plans for the summer is an important- maybe the most important – part of the holiday. Looking forward to something often determines how you enjoy it. And that doesn’t just apply to the (summer) holiday. The same is true for Christmas. So let the anticipation start here and now, you can’t be too early for CHRISTMAS!
We wish you all a Happy Summer and a Merry Midsummer Christmas with as much being together as possible now. And of course, I hope to see you in October when the collection will be on display in the shop.
For now, enjoy watching our new website!
The Vintage Christmas Company team