“Remoted – Hybrid” – Day 632 (Wednesday)

North Pole Coal
hits Nashville.

A quick review of photos and Facebook memories shows that December can be have almost as many dress up activities as October. Decembers past have included a variety of events and opportunities to put on a costume or something super sparkly and cut loose a little.

One year featured the Santa Rampage in Nashville, where hundreds (maybe thousands) of revelers dressed in Santa, Elf, and related costumes engaged in a bar crawl after meeting at a designated Christmas tree for a group photo. 

That year, my cobbled costume was “North Pole Coal,” the keeper of Santa’s Naughty List. Totally fabricated character, but it was fun, and people actually voluntarily added their names to the naughty list. 

Marketing Elf.

The costume was easy, as the closet already contained many more black and charcoal gray garments than anything remotely close to a Santa or Elf ensemble. The hardest part during the night was the wig and beret which kept slipping on my head, taking the bangs from eyebrow length to radically short and crooked in minutes. Nearly a decade later, the closet still holds significantly more black than red or green, and wigs still slip on my head, a most frustrating situation that needs a solution.  

Several years saw house parties with the Ugly Sweater theme. One year’s party involved decorating a basic boring green thrift store cardigan with a sassy red thrift store bra. The bra was sewn over the sweater and white yarn made a candy cane stripe effect over the bra straps. Decorative red, glittery clips that said “Ho Ho Ho” completed the elegant look. It won second place at the party, bested by a sweat suit that was completely festooned in holiday lights.

Sparkly.

In the early years of my current job, there were Christmas readings each December. Each day for a couple weeks, part of the story was read by a different team or department. One year I was pulled in to don a reindeer onesie.  Another year, the entire Marketing team was dressed in elf costumes. 

On the more elegant side of the dress up spectrum, there were even a couple years with December galas and opportunities to slip on a tuxedo. It was a blue sequin tuxedo one year, and a pink and gold metallic tuxedo with black lapels another.

It feels like it’s long past the time for another December dress up event. There are none on the calendar for this year, but maybe in 2022 will have something. One can hope.