Submitted by Jillian on Tue, 12/20/2011 - 11:25pm
We have all seen them, but their origin remains a mystery. Opinions on them vary: beautiful, tacky, ironic, hideous, glorious, outdated, on trend … but one thing is certain. This season, the Ugly Christmas Sweater is back!
The Ugly Christmas Sweater is rumored to have originated somewhere in the 1980’s as a trendy way to celebrate the holidays - because nothing says “Merry Christmas” better than kittens in Santa hats or a neon reindeer crafted out of puff paint adorning your holiday ensemble. In the years following, these glorious creations were banished to attics and yard sales and only great-aunt Maude could be counted on to boldly display (and distribute) these majestic beauties - to the horror of the younger generations. But no more. Their day has come again. From office parties to gatherings with friends, and church potlucks to frat houses, these lovelies have been embraced as an ironic symbol of commercialized holiday nostalgia. And they are the “it” item of the 2011 holiday season.
Our office caught the Christmas fever early this year as I issued out a tough challenge for the team here: be ready for the Christmas photo by September 21. And let me say for the record, I was quite impressed with the outcome. We had reindeer and santas, swans and poinsettias; teddy bears and snowmen, and argyle and angels. Some were lovingly knit, others tacked and puff-painted, and all were gorgeously excessive and festive.
One thing was for certain - September in California is not exactly sweater weather. With temperatures in the 90’s, we got down to business: several seriously happy, and several more not so serious (and quite a bit goofier) photos later, we escaped back indoors to shoot some individual shots in our holiday photo booth. A good time was had by all, though the Ugly Sweater Champion has yet to be crowned.
