It almost time to celebrate a strange little holiday so here are 4 must-watch movies for Christmas in July.

Mix 99.5 WJBR will be going totally Christmas music all day on July 25th and I want you to gear up with some of my must watch Christmas films.

Before we get there…what and why does Christmas in July actually exist? Why are we putting on our Santa gear 5 months early?

Turns out Christmas in July started in North Carolina at a summer camp as a way to celebrate the holiday with friends you may not have seen during the winter time.

“The first Christmas in July included carolers, a Christmas tree, Santa Claus, presents, and fake snow made of cotton. As the tradition evolved, campers would use laundry bags as makeshift stockings, which they placed outside their cabins to be filled with candy overnight. Eventually, elves, reindeer, and Mrs. Claus joined the act, along with a camp-wide gift exchange, counselors included” according to Southern Living.

A movie named after Christmas in July came out in 1940 and the term began to spread across the country causing more and more to start celebrating. Celebrations and awareness of this began to grow and retailers decided to jump on the bandwagon as well.

So as we get ready for Christmas in July, what should you watch?

I love a good Christmas movie, but I am pretty picky on what I watch during the holidays.

I don’t want to say my taste is eclectic, I just love some off-beat Christmas movies.

So here are my 4 must-watch movies for Christmas in July:

4. Four Christmases

This is the single most underrated Christmas movie of all time. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon must navigate four Christmases with varying degrees of insanity. There’s a moon bounce, a wild board game, and Tim McGraw is almost unrecognizable. The cast is amazing and is truly an ensemble. Watch this, trust me.

• 3. Jingle All The Way

  I once showed my grandma this movie on Christmas and she said it was one of the worst movies she had ever seen and she was kind of disappointed in me. The movie isn’t great but it has all the nostalgia for me. Arnold Schwarzenegger fighting people in a store for an action figure he forgot to buy. Sinbad being kind of evil. There is a huge parade. People fly. The movie is bad but its a great watch!

• 2. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

  My family and I know this movie so well, that we started watching it in other languages to see if we could pick up some word. It worked. I quote this film weekly and my uncle even showed up dressed as Eddie for one celebration. And yes it was the outfit from the scene where he empties the “contents” of his camper.

• 1. The Muppet Christmas Carol

  I have no idea how this isn’t the top movie on every list. I once read the Muppets interpretation of the the Charles Dickens’ classic is truest interpretation of the novel. Michael Caine is Scrooge and Kermit is Bob Cratchit, I am not sure how much more convincing you need. It also has one of the best original soundtracks for a movie I have ever heard. The songs will be stuck in your head for weeks

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