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Sweaters
My roommate was browsing through a catalog and showed me the most hideous and offensive Christmas sweater I have ever seen. We pondered who would wear it, why would they wear it, and where they would wear it? The only thing we could come up with was it would certainly — hands down — win any and every Ugly Christmas Sweater contest it entered.
That bad.
I’m not sure where exactly the idea for The Ugly Christmas Sweater came from — but it is now a piece of Christmas legend and myth. My guess would be it might have started with some really poor homemade sweaters given to hapless and helpless family members.
Not everyone who does knit — should knit.
And yet — I remember getting a sweater and hat set knitted just for me from my older sister. I was probably around eight years old. I wore them All. The. Time. I loved them. Even at that young age, I realized this was a very special gift. Handmade, with love and time.
Years ago, when my older daughter had a holiday gig at GAP — she got me my favorite sweater for Christmas. Solid black with a couple of racing stripes of cream down each sleeve, it had just the right weight and fit. And icing on the cake — it was a turtleneck! She was sixteen that Christmas. This fall she turned forty.
That sweater is waiting in my sweater drawer for North Carolina’s temperatures to plummet. When that happens — I’ll be reaching for it like a warm security blanket. And remembering the morning when I opened it all those Christmases ago.
They say happiness is a warm puppy — but they’re wrong. Happiness is a warm sweater. Bonus: The sweater doesn’t need to be walked.
Namaste.
