All the primary school first years (my own included) were STOKED to wear their Christmas jumpers to school today. There they all were, delightedly unzipping coats, showing them off. Look, mine sparkles! Look, look, mine changes colour! It truly is a magical time of year.
I feel like I missed out. I'm jealous of my own kids. Whacky Christmas jumpers were not a thing when I was a child. We didn't have a day where the school served up a turkey dinner (complete with sprouts, if you can believe it, which is how my nine-year-old came around on one of the most divisive vegetables out there).
Has the United States embraced the Christmas jumper yet? Christmas jumpers are A THING here, and I love it. The Brits really do go all out at this time of year, fully committing to a level of lighthearted goofiness. They put on clothes that are deliberately tacky, join their work colleagues for boozy lunches (and even boozier post-lunch pub crawls). They pull crackers that include dad jokes and paper crowns that they wear for the rest of the afternoon. Our town's high street is so lit up with festive lights it could be mistaken for a landing strip. I'll tell you what, this country knows how to Christmas. It's delightful.