There’s No Such Thing As An Ugly Christmas Sweater

There is a sweet Christmas song called “The Friendly Beasts.” In the song, the animals describe the gifts they gave to Baby Jesus. The donkey, all shaggy and brown, carried his mother up hill and down, carrying Baby Jesus safely to Bethlehem town. The cow all white and red gave him her manger for a bed and a pillow for his head. The dove from the rafters high cooed him to sleep that he should not cry. The camel all yellow and black over the desert on his back brought him a gift in the wise men’s pack.  But the animal I want to focus on is the sheep with a curly horn who gave him her wool to keep him warm. He wore her coat on Christmas morn. I wonder if that’s the origin of the ugly Christmas sweater.

When Thanksgiving is over, I can officially get into the Christmas season. (Unlike other people who cheat and put up their Christmas tree on Halloween. But that’s fodder for another blog.) This means, among other things, I can dig out all my Christmas clothes that I wear once a year. Once upon a time, it was trendy to wear Christmas clothing. So each year, usually after Christmas, when the sales went into effect, I bought a few items, which have gradually grown into a large collection of seasonal garments.

I don’t care if I wear the same Christmas clothes year after year, as I generally only have an opportunity to wear them once during the holidays. If people are sick of seeing me in the same old Yuletide apparel, well, that’s their problem. I wore ugly Christmas sweaters back before the ugly Christmas sweater cult took root. And I love my Christmas sweaters. To me, they are all beautiful. The busier they are, the more I like them.

Frankly, I think this whole “ugly Christmas sweater” movement is somewhat disrespectful. I watch movies or TV shows in which the characters try to sport the ugliest Christmas sweaters to poke fun at each other’s attire, and I think, What’s wrong with that sweater? I kind of like it. And people are actually having “ugly sweater” parties and “ugly sweater” contests. Granted, I’m not exactly a fashionista, but when it comes to Christmas sweaters, it seems like making them the brunt of jokes is just plain wrong. I mean, really, is nothing sacred?

I will probably continue to wear my outdated and ugly Christmas outfits until I die. But at my age, I can get away with being tacky without people judging me. On the other hand, maybe people are judging me, but again, at my age, I don’t care. It makes me happy, and I’m allowed to be eccentric. Now my only problem is deciding whether to wear the sweater with the snowmen or the reindeer first and hoping it stays cool enough to wear both during the next few weeks. Because despite everything I have just said, I live in Florida, and perspiring in an ugly Christmas sweater when it’s 80 degrees outside doesn’t make me feel particularly jolly.