'tis the season of tacky christmas sweaters.

Ohhh the joys of Christmas time in elementary school.  Besides the obvious fun of singing christmas songs, and dancing jigs in the school's annual christmas pageant, you could always count on your teacher to sport one of those hideous christmas sweaters with the dangly reindeer, and sparkly christmas trees.  Now, I look back on pictures of myself as a youngster, and my outfit choices weren't always geared towards People Magazine's, Best Dressed list, but anything is better than one of those sweaters.  Seriously, anything.  

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/ugly-christmas-sweaters-461208

Some doozies for your viewing pleasure.

Now with a sweater so loud and irritating, its hard to imagine any sort of accessory that could possibly compliment it.  However, elementary school teachers, all clearly shop at Avon, because they would have jingle bell earrings, strings of christmas lights on a bracelet, santa clause hats on their heads, and snowflakes around their necks.   Some of my teachers also sported festive socks, just so the Christmas cheer was spread out evenly throughout their entire body.  Even at a young age, I knew this was bad.  Just plain wrong on so many levels.  

You can always tell an elementary school teacher when you see them out in public.   They still sport the tacky Christmas parifanalia, even years later.  I can't believe they still keep room for them in their closets.  

 I say, with the Christmas season well underway,  do it up right: throw on your nicest cocktail dress, grab a pair of shiny stilettos, drape yourself in pearls or rhinestone costume jewellery and show the town what Christmas is supposed to look like.  

seeing red.

For me, there is nothing quite like the feeling I get when I flip open a fashion magazine and am hit in the face with the season's hottest items.  Although I am not one to necessarily follow trends, it is nearly impossible for me to contain my heart attack when I see what shoe god Christian Louboutin has come up with now.  That little sweep of red on the sole of every perfectly proportioned shoe is enough to send any fashion fiend on a tailspin.

Even more of a thrill for me than fashion magazines, is the thrill I get seeing ordinary people wearing such enviable designer pieces out on the streets.  

When I was in New York, there were plenty of sophisticated women carrying enormous shopping bags labelled Barneys, Saks 5th Avenue, Tiffany's & Louis Vuitton, and being the nosy fashionista that I am, I couldn't help but wonder, "What do they have in there?".  It took every ounce of strength I had not to brush past closely, in hopes of sneaking a glance at my equivalent of one month's rent.

For me, these pieces seem like artifacts best kept in national museums.  The poise and elegance it takes to pull of a classic Chanel suit, in my mind, is only suited to rich society women who spend their days attending luncheons, and planning charity events.  A Louis Vuitton duffel bag, on the shoulder of the teenage girl in front of me in airport security, surely means she's an heiress or socialite... possibly  both.   And those Louboutins on the woman waiting at the hair salon.  I can't help but imagine her as an ass-kicking super hero, saving the world with a click of her red soled shoes. 

 My imagination is endless, and I create a world of wealth and glamour for these strangers. 

For each designer luxury item I see, comes a world of possibilities, a world of insight into these people's lives.  Suddenly, they are the Donald Trumps and Paris Hilton's of the world, when indeed they may have done without dinner for a month, and are now living in a cardboard box, sleeping next to their fabulous shoes or handbag.

Just ask Dorothy: there's a lot of power in red.