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 In 1843, A Christmas Carol, written by Charles
Dickens, changed people’s view of Christmas placing the emphasis on
kindness, charity, and families being together. The Victorians took
his view to heart with new traditions including Christmas trees,
Christmas cards, and gift-giving.
By the late 1800’s most Americans were celebrating Christmas with
the traditions brought by immigrants: Christmas trees and evergreen
branches by the Germans, mistletoe by Norse and Celtic mythology,
poinsettias from Mexico, the Yule log from Scandinavia, and more.
In 1870, President Grant and Congress declared Christmas a national
holiday to be celebrated on December 25th each year.
Families celebrate Christmas with a multitude of traditions passed
from generation to generation: hanging stockings, decorating
Christmas trees, nativities, watching Christmas movies, baking
cookies and decorating gingerbread houses, sending cards, visiting
Santa, reading the account of Jesus’ birth, and the list goes on and
on.
A new Christmas tradition that is gaining in popularity year after
year, is the Ugly Christmas Sweater. Buried in the back of the
closet or hope chest, these sweaters burst out in glorious tackiness
as people start to think about the holiday. By definition an ugly
Christmas sweater is any sweater with a Christmas theme that is in
bad taste, tacky, or gaudy. Of course, like beauty, ugly is in the
eye of the beholder. Most would agree, the more embellishments –
reindeer, Santa Claus, tinsel, candy canes, elves, pom-poms, bows,
jewels, bits and bobs - the uglier the sweater.
Ugly sweaters made an appearance in the 1950’s with the mass
commercialization of Christmas. No one takes credit for the first
ugly sweater, but it is believed that the intention was to be
fashionable.
Called “Jingle Bell Sweaters” the hand-knitted one-of-a-kind sweater
featured distinct Christmas themed decorations. At some point,
designers decided more is better and these sweaters were made to be
worn with a purpose.
The true arrival of the ugly sweater was in the 1980s thanks to
Cliff Huxtable, played by Bill Cosby, in the “The Cosby Show.” Then
Chevy Chase’s character, Clark Griswold, in “National Lampoon’s
Christmas Vacation” turned the over-the-top ugly sweater into a
heart-warming expression of cheer.
By 2001, Colin Firth, playing a stuffy lawyer, Mark Darcy, in
“Bridget Jones’s Diary brought the sweater to a new level consuming
the nation. Fueled by TV shows and social media the craze soon
turned into a competition as young and old tried to top each other
with the most frills to de-stress and laugh together.
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Taking it one step further, two men in Vancouver,
British Columbia, Chris Boyd and Jordan Birch, take credit for
throwing the first ever Christmas Sweater Party. They wanted to
create a feel-good festive party and included sweaters as part of
the event. The co-founders of the party idea have even trademarked
the phrases “ugly Christmas sweater” and “ugly Christmas sweater
party.” The idea caught on in Canada and the U.S. and seemingly
overnight parties were massive events spreading Christmas cheer.
Taking place annually in the Commodore Ballroom, the event has
become a fundraiser for the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Canada raising
money to grant wishes to children with life-threatening illnesses.
Currently popular, the trend sees no sign of slowing down. Jimmy
Fallon has created “The 12 Days of Christmas Sweaters” for his
late-night talk show and MTV has a teen documentary titled “True
Life: I Love Ugly Christmas Sweaters?” Retail stores sell brand new
designs, so shoppers don’t have to scavenge in thrift stores.
Celebrities and TV make ugly Christmas sweaters a common Christmas
sight.
On the third Friday of December people all over the U.S. wear their
hilarious sweaters for everyone to see. There seems to be no rules
for how gaudy the sweaters can be. Some believe the sweater must be
worn no matter what the circumstance of the day brings: school,
work, funeral, wedding. While many don’t take on that extreme, they
are happy to participate in office parties, community events,
private affairs, and fundraisers. Having a day set aside seems to
make it easier to get people excited about this Christmas tradition.
Christmas can be a time of stress and anxiety about the financial
drain gift-giving can cause and the abundant amount of family
interaction. The Christmas sweater awakens a warm and fuzzy feeling
amongst family and friends, alike. From parties to family pictures,
the ugly Christmas sweater is here to stay.
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