How a US tradition becomes a Christmas habit in this country too.
They are brightly colored, flashy and … frankly, terribly ugly. Now, as is well known, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, the name of the “Ugly Christmas Sweater” already reveals that the festive knitted sweater is an eye-catching, but rather tasteless item of clothing. Translated, they mean “ugly Christmas sweaters”.
They have long been a tradition in the USA. They became cult at the latest with the famous film scene from “Bridget Jones” (2001), in which Bridget (Renée Zellweger) meets Colin Firth alias Mark Darcy in his hideous reindeer top for the first time.
The fashion trend has now also arrived in boutiques in this country and even Aldi has Christmas sweaters on offer every year.
For me, the sweaters have not only been part of my personal Christmas traditions since the ugly Eintracht Frankfurt Christmas sweater was around. Ever since my time in Pennsylvania – an athletic scholarship from 2014 to 2017 – I’ve shown courage to be ugly around the holidays. The American friends persuaded me to take part.
“We’re making fun of the baby boomer generation, who wore these sweaters as a matter of course; as if we found them really beautiful, ”they explained the party concept to me. So a bit of the youthful celebration equivalent of grandma’s homemade woolen socks under the fir tree, which are not necessarily part of your favorite outfit, but which you wear with dignity.
Christmas rituals: For some it is the goose on Christmas Eve, for others it has to be “Three Nuts for Cinderella” in the afternoon program. We all have certain stories, films or rituals that belong to Christmas – and without which our Andvents time would only be half as festive. This year you will not only find the popular personal stories in the FR advent calendar, but also raffles every now and then. Good luck and in any case: Happy Holidays! FR
Once I became familiar with the custom, I don’t want to miss it anymore and now I throw an Ugly Sweater Party for my friends every year. Here is my recipe for a US Christmas party:
Back in the US, I only invested two tired dollars in the good piece at a thrift shop. Today I can choose between three screamingly unsightly Ugly Christmas sweaters in my closet; including the aforementioned Eintracht sweater. After all, aberration of taste does not have to rule out vanity.
If you need to warm up a bit with the concept, a cup of mulled wine is recommended. Of course, it shouldn’t be missing from my Ugly Sweater Party, as well as the American egg nog EggNog.
If you want to Americanise the good old elephant as well, opt for the “White Elephant” variant. You don’t know who you are going to get a gift for. An amount is set in advance, then all the presents are put in a pile at the party and the order of the participants is drawn by lot.
The first can choose a package, the second decide whether to steal the present from the first (in which case number one should open a new one) or choose a present that is still wrapped. So it goes one after the other. Stealing back is not an option, a gift may be stolen a maximum of three times. Et voila: the recipe for a fun Christmas party.
Last year my traditional celebration had to be canceled due to Corona. Whether it can take place this year is becoming more and more questionable and unreasonable with the increasing number of infections. But: if necessary, I can change my sweater every few hours and thus maintain the appearance of a colorful Ugly Christmas sweater party …
