Don We Now Our Ugly Sweaters

Even though it isn't actually ugly
 this Alex Stevens sweater from
Amazon won me over.

by Elizabeth Van Allen

scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com/

Aaah, winter... season of snow, hot chocolate, re-connecting with friends & relatives and donning our ugly sweaters.  That's right folks, I hopped right up on that bandwagon this year with no regrets.  I followed the lemmings off the sidewalk and right into the check-out line.  Who am I to question such a fun and openly ridiculous trend?  Seeing that I always have impeccable taste (I heard you laughing!), I actually had to go out and purchase one.  As so many of my fellow lemmings had already beaten me to thrift stores, TJ Maxx and Marshalls, I resorted to going online.  Did you know how much these things cost?  The retail price before discounts seems to average $30-$60!  I gathered my coupon codes and waited for the right time to strike.  Helloooo Amazon.com!

You'd think that just the sweater would be enough.  Nope, I had to go that extra mile and add lights.  I attached these babies to my sweater with twist ties in mere minutes!  My students kept asking me where the lights were plugged in.  After a while I stopped showing them the battery pack and answered with "my belly button, of course!"  Their faces were priceless.

No ensemble would be complete without coordinating accessories.  Enter my holiday hat/fascinator/headband. No ordinary buy-it-at-CVS santa hat would do, I HAD to personalize it according to some very rigorous specifications.  Thanks to my local craft store I combined a mini elf hat headband with an ugly sweater ornament!

Hidden bonus: a homage to 1994's olympic ice skating drama!

Apparently my first ugly sweater attempt qualified as a fail. Here's what a co-worker of mine overheard from an 8th grade girl in the hall: "That's supposed to be an ugly sweater?  She won't win any prizes because that sweater's not ugly.  I'd wear it."  I guess you can't win 'em all, but in this case I think that losing is a little more like winning, at least in the eyes of the fashion police.

What did you do to spread a little extra holiday cheer this season?