The first mention of the phrase, “Christmas in July” is found in Werther, an 1892 French opera with libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet, and Georges Hartmann. It had an English translation published in 1894 by American playright, Elizabeth Beall Ginty. In the story, a group of children rehearses a Christmas song in July, to which a character responds: "When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season." The earliest known celebration in the United States to make the phrase Christmas in...