No Filter December – Day Four: Christmas Sweater

When I was young and single, I lived with a married couple and another single gal in a house that was owned by a friend of mine. As we neared Christmas, a friend gave me this red sweatshirt with a teddy bear on it, and the words “Hug Me” emblazoned across it.

Two things, however:

1) The words were in a weird font and clashed with the picture behind them, so that it looked like it said, “Huame.” People asked me if that was Hawaiian for Christmas. I don’t know why they thought I would know – I’ve only been to Hawaii once.

2) APPARENTLY, I wore the sweater all the time. It was very comfortable. But the morning I came out of my room, comfortably dressed and feeling festive, and my roommate Charley looked up from his coffee and deadpanned, “Oh, you’re wearing that sweater. I never would have guessed,” it occurred to me that perhaps I was overdoing the Wearing Of The Huame Sweater.

I kept it for years, since I could only wear it in December (My rules. You guys do what you want). But eventually it wore out and I had to part with it.

Fastforward 25+ years to last Christmas, when the 12 year old simply HAD to have an ugly Christmas sweater. We headed over to Aaardvark’s Odd Ark and found a rack of them. And you will never guess what he not only found, but chose.  And what he has worn EVERY DAY OF THIS WEEK, ever since we got the Christmas decorations out of the attic. It must be hereditary.

One day soon this phase will be over and I will get a picture of the 12 year old with a regular smile on his face. Soon. No, any minute now, surely.