John Samuel Waters, Jr.:
(Baltimore, 22 April 1946) is an American film director of such cult films as Pink Flamingos, Hairspray and Cry-Baby. He is best known for his use of camp and shocking scenes, his habit of using his hometown of Baltimore as a film location and his frequent use of rock and roll music from the 1950s and 1960s.
Being a traditionalist, I’m a rabid sucker for Christmas. In July, I’m already worried that there are only 146 shopping days left.
– 🎄 The speaker ‘loves Christmas intensely and unapologetically’.
– 🛍️ They are so obsessed with Christmas preparation—especially gift-buying—that even ‘in July’ they feel anxious that Christmas is “almost here.”
– 😄 The phrase is humorous and exaggerated: ‘146 shopping days’ is actually a lot, so calling it “only” 146 makes the obsession funny.
– “Rabid sucker for Christmas” means someone who is ‘wildly enthusiastic’ and cannot resist Christmas traditions.
It also gently mocks the commercial side of Christmas—the old countdown of “shopping days until Christmas.”
✍️ Author:
Widely attributed to John Waters, the American filmmaker, writer, and cult-cinema figure.
The usual form is:
> “Being a traditionalist, I’m a rabid sucker for Christmas. In July, I’m already worried that there are only 146 shopping days left.”
📚 Origin:
The quote is commonly sourced to John Waters’s book:
– “Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters”
– First published in 1986
It appears in connection with Waters’s humorous writing about his love of Christmas.
🧠 Note on Tone:
John Waters is famous for irony, camp, and subversive humor, so calling himself a “traditionalist” is partly funny: he presents himself as someone with very conventional Christmas excitement, but in an exaggerated, slightly absurd way.
