by Genenda Milloy

Created on: December 12, 2008

Today was the faculty ugly Christmas sweater day. It was so fun to gather in a big group and rejoice in our mutual ugliness. Goodwill disappointed me; they didn't really have ugly Christmas sweaters, although they had a plethora of Halloween sweaters I could have chosen from. I tried Dollar General and was disappointed once again. Finally, KMart came through for me. I regret to say that I spent $20 on that... thing. The sweater vest (this meant extra credit points toward the prize for most hideous sweater) I found was black with red accents at the collar. Embellishments included beads, sequins, glitter, felt, ribbons, rickrack, and more. On the lower left of the sweater was a somewhat fuzzy Christmas tree with rickrack and embroidered snowflakes extending all the way up to my shoulder. On the lower right were giant Christmas ornaments. To top it all off, I bought Christmas tree socks with buttons along the side and a flashing Christmas tree pin (alas, I could not get it to light up until the day was nearly over). To paraphrase a student, I looked like an elf had thrown up on me.

Most students were not aware prior to this morning that the teachers were planning an ugly Christmas sweater day, so I was disappointed when none of them made fun of my fashion choice. I planned out exactly what I would say if someone made fun of me. "You don't like it? It was a gift from my dead [fill in the blank with a nonexistant relative]." I only go to use that comment once, and that was not until lunch when I complained to a student that nobody had insulted my sweater yet. When one of her friends came to sit down, she told the girl, "Tell Miss Milloy that her shirt is hideous." The girl joining the table complied with her friend's order, and I gave her my planned response. The poor girl's jaw dropped and she stuttered, "Uh... that ornament on the bottom is really pretty." Later, a student told me my shirt was ugly, and the novelty had worn off. Instead, I told him that I had forgotten this was ugly sweater day and wore one of my favorites instead.

One of my favorite parts of this day was gathering in the cafeteria after school to vote. The entire faculty enjoyed being ugly together. It was such a strange feeling- the world usually judges the worth of a person by beauty, but today we encouraged ugliness. The sweaters, which were borrowed from grandmothers, in-laws, and wives joined with those that had been fished out from forgotten storage boxes, found their place today. I found it ironic that we approached each other with comments such as, "I love that shirt," "That's a great one," and more. What would life be like if we could learn to appreciate the differences in appearance and find a simple beauty in them? Just imagine the comments! "Your lovehandles look great!" "Bad hair day, huh? Yours is so much better than mine." "Your clothes don't quite match. That is so cool!" I think if the world would embrace deviations from standard beauty more often, it would be a much more interesting place.

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