Janice Dean’s mom, Stella, says that no “ugly occasions sweater” is ever actually ugly.
And since moms always know best — well, guess that settles it!
But wait, there’s more.
In a personal essay featured in the new book All American Christmas by Rachel Campos-Duffy and Sean Duffy, the ebullient Janice Dean — a senior meteorologist at Fox News Channel and morning meteorologist for “Fox & Friends” — shares her memories of Christmas during her growing-up years in her native Canada (she’s lived in the US for the past twenty years).
Among her memories as a child are “listening to the radio or watching on television personalities giving her yearly Christmas broadcast.”
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She also recounts episodes of driving out to a sugar bush, “an area where maple trees grow and syrup is tapped from them and processed.” (Canada, Dean points out, produces 71 percent of the world’s pure maple syrup.)
But the sweater — that “ugly Christmas sweater” — has a special place in her celebration of the Christmas season with her family.
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Read this short, sweet take from All American Christmas — and see if your perceptions of the “ugly Christmas sweater” don’t change just a wee bit afterward.
The truth about the ‘ugly Christmas sweater,’ from Janice Dean
Janice Dean in All American Christmas: For me, an indication of the approach of the holiday season was my mother taking out her favorite festive Christmas sweaters.
A young Janice Dean with her mom, Stella. This personal photo and many others — along with essays, recipes, playlists, and more — appear in the delightful new book ‘All American Christmas.’
(Courtesy Janice Dean)
Stella, my mom, firmly believes that she is the one who began what is now known in the US as the “ugly Christmas sweater” tradition.
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Now, you have to understand that my mother doesn’t believe that the sweaters she wears for the season are ugly.
They’re just beautiful Christmas-themed garments.
(iStock)
I have photographic evidence dating back to when I was in my late teens or early twenties of her wearing her Christmas sweaters.
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She’s joined me on “Fox & Friends” several times when I’ve donned my “ugly Christmas sweater,” but she’ll always correct me and say it’s not ugly.
Christmas sweaters are always beautiful, and the more festive the better.
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Most anything related to Christmas is special.
Excerpted from the book All American Christmas by Rachel Campos-Duffy and Sean Duffy. To purchase a copy, click here.
