To wear or not to wear?

Lately my friends and I have had numerous discussions on the Taboo act of wearing that infamous piece of festive clothing- the Christmas Sweater. It's perfectly acceptable, and particularly adorable to dress children in red velvet dresses with fur trim, and fine to dress them in red from top to bottom with a matching bow during the Christmas season. Additionally, we sort of laugh and accept the fact that many of our mothers are of the mature age now where they are donning Christmas sweaters (daily if it's my Mother, with red pants to match!). And while we agree that our moms are cute in their snowmen vests, and reindeer mock turtlenecks, we swear to each other that we will Never be caught dead in something so hideous.

But what is so bad about the Christmas sweater? What makes it a universally-unaccepted article of clothing once you hit the teens and is locked in that category until you hit 50 where it becomes acceptable once again? I mean personally, I don't see what is so tacky about a bulky sweater covered with ginormous poinsettias. Office Max has even gone to great lengths to make fun of the often-laughed-at Christmas sweater (I think maybe the only thing poked fun at more during the holidays would be the Fruitcake) that they have a website where you can create a virtual tacky Christmas sweater and email your creation to a friend.

While I agree that most holiday apparel is indeed unflattering for the trendy dresser, I myself am wearing a fashionable Christmas shirt that I got from the Gap last year. It's fitted and green and has a tiny reindeer made of rhinestones on it. Christmas socks are also festive and fun, mainly because you can wear them proudly without causing too much of a distraction to the rest of your ensemble, because how often are one's socks really displayed? And then there was that incident in college with the Christmas bra.... disaster.... but all I can say is that there are ways to wear your holiday spirit proudly, even if it's not as obvious as a snowman covering the entire length of your torso.


Post Script: Momma B took this picture with the intent of including it on her comment after this post, but technical difficulties prevented her from doing so. I am displaying here now for you all to admire. :o)