Christmas in July: Our King of Christmas Rushmore Flocked Tree (and the Tradition Behind It)

Disclosure: King of Christmas sent us this tree to review. All opinions, all the nostalgia, and all the vacuuming comparisons are 100% mine. This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

You guys. We did it again.

Last summer I put up a Christmas tree in the middle of June and wrote about it.

I thought it might be a one-time thing.

It was not.

Christmas in July is officially a tradition in the Burton house now. This year, King of Christmas sent us their 7.5′ Rushmore Flocked Artificial Christmas Tree… so here we are, in a Florida July, AC cranked, with a snowy tree glowing in the living room.

But before I tell you about the tree, I want to tell you why I keep doing this.

Because it’s not really about the tree.

Why Christmas Is My Favorite

Nostalgia: a sentimental longing for a period in the past.

I used to think nostalgia was something that just happened to you.

It’s not.

Somebody builds it. On purpose.

Christmas is the one time of year our family actually slows down. Nobody’s rushing to practice. Nobody’s checking a work email at the dinner table (okay… mostly nobody). We come together. We worship Jesus. We just be with each other.

I can look back on my own childhood Christmases and feel that warmth. No matter what else was going on in our lives…Christmas was special.

That’s what I want for my kids.

I want them to grow up, look back, and know that no matter what… this time of year was ours.

So yes. I put up a Christmas tree in July.

Because building that nostalgia doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because somebody decides it matters.

Okay, Now the Tree

Let’s talk about the Rushmore. Because this one surprised me.

It Fills the Room

At 7.5 feet tall with a fuller, wider base, this tree owns a space. If you’ve got a big corner or an open living room that swallows up skinnier trees…this is your answer.

Our past trees always looked a little lost in the room.

Not this one.

The Flocking Actually Stays On the Tree

You guys know this is my thing.

I’ve had the more inexpensive flocked trees. And listen if that’s your budget, they’re still a great option and I will never shame a budget

But the flock on those trees ends up everywhere. You’re sweeping it up all December. The dog runs past the tree and it looks like a snow globe exploded in your living room.

The Rushmore’s flocking is a heavy, cotton-based material. And it stays put.

I fluffed the whole thing and barely had anything to clean up. No flock trail every time somebody walks by.

My vacuum is getting the December off it deserves.

The needles are a blend of realistic and classic styles… full and real from across the room, classic Christmas-tree shape up close.

Those Warm White Lights, Though

The tree comes pre-strung with warm white micro LED lights, and the glow is exactly what you want. Cozy. Golden. Sitting-by-the-fire kind of light.

And here’s the part I didn’t expect to love: 8 lighting modes, a timer, and a dimming function.

Full bright for decorating and family pictures.

Dimmed way down for that quiet, end-of-the-night glow.

And the timer means I’m not crawling behind the tree every night to unplug it. It just handles itself. Once you’ve had a tree with a timer, you will never go back.

Here’s the thing about celebrating Christmas in Florida: it might be 85 degrees on Christmas Day. We are not getting a white Christmas down here. Ever. But when the sun goes down and that tree is glowing warm in the corner?

It feels like Christmas.

Setup: A Matter of Minutes

Real talk, because I know assembly is the thing everyone dreads.

This tree has a Power Pole…the lights connect through the center pole as you stack the sections. No hunting for plugs buried in the branches. No matching up cords in the dark.

My husband had it standing and lit in a matter of minutes.

Fluffing took the normal amount of time. I’m not going to tell you the branches magically fluff themselves …no tree does that.

But here’s a detail I genuinely appreciate: King of Christmas sends a pair of gloves with the tree.

If you have sensitive skin like me, or a kiddo with sensory issues like my son, you know that fluffing an artificial tree can be genuinely unpleasant…all those branches against your hands and arms. The gloves change that. Fluffing went from a chore I dread to something we could actually do together.

My eleven-year-old has sensory issues and as you can see in the picture below he was so excited to help set up the tree when it came.

It’s a small thing. But small things like that are usually the difference between a company that makes trees and a company that thought about the family putting one up.

The Generational Tree

Here’s the part of this post that matters most to me.

My husband and I bought our first Christmas tree in 2001, the year we got married. We still have it. Every other year or so, we bring it out. and putting it up is tedious. Every single branch goes into a metal hook. Row by row by row.

And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Some of our best memories as a family happened around that tree.

So here’s what I’ve started doing as my children get older: I want each of them to have one nice Christmas tree of their own. Something that goes with them when they move out …which, I hate to say it, is sooner than later.

Something they can look at in their first apartment and say:

“That was at my family home. And now it’s in mine.”

That’s the plan for this Rushmore. It’s not just this year’s tree. It’s a generational tree.

This is what “buy it once, buy quality” actually means around here. It’s not just about saving money although a well-made tree that lasts decades absolutely beats replacing a cheap one every two or three seasons. It’s that the things worth buying once are the things worth handing down.

Decorating Sidenote

I put the first image into Google’s AI Gemini and it suggested different ways to decorate the tree. I highly recommend to get different ideas when it comes time to decorate this season.

The Bottom Line

If you have the space to fill, flocked-tree cleanup has been driving you crazy, and you want a tree built to last long enough to hand down …the King of Christmas 7.5′ Rushmore Flocked Tree is worth a serious look.

And if a Christmas tree in July sounds ridiculous to you… I get it.

But around here, it’s just us deciding, a little early, that this season matters. The slowing down. The coming together. The worship. The memories my kids will carry into homes of their own.

That part?

That’s free.

Merry Christmas in July, you guys.