The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer*
Dec 10th, 2008 by Kristin
I don’t know about you but I’m so sick of the whole “these are rough times” mantra that seems to pervade everyone’s living styles these days (I know times are bad, and don’t need to be reminded of it every nanosecond, OK? I’M LOOKING AT YOU, MEDIABISTRO DAILY E-MAIL UPDATE.). Perhaps I should be a little more conscientious of the fact that I have lost THREE of my regular writing gigs with this whole minor economy crisis and whatnot and learn that spending $75 a night on dinner is not, in fact, normal in most parts of the States. But I’m not good with reality checks and am still living under the (false? true?) assumption that Obama will swoop into office on January 20, wave his magic Yes-to-Change wand and miraculously cure all that is bad with the world today. No? Yes? Who’s with me on this?
Still, everyone else I know seems to be a bit glum of late, and what better way to spread Christmas cheer than singing loud for all to hear donning your most hideous, last-minute-Good-Will-purchased Christmas sweaters at a very classy bar? I can’t think of any.
Perhaps the most humbling part of the whole evening was the 25-minute BART ride to Union Square, followed by a 10-minute trek (in heels, make it more like 15) to the bar of mention, where we had to pass through the gritty Tenderloin where all the bums mingle. We got more than a few stares (some elderly men on the train were scratching their chins while absorbing my ensemble) and some catcalls while hurrying down Geary Street. My favorite bar in all of San Francisco, Bourbon & Branch, which is an old speakeasy, has a menu the size of a novel, and requires a reservation and password for entry, was kind enough to let me host my soiree in their private Russell Room (for free! no bar minimum!), which we came to find was accessed by secret passageway behind a bookcase (how amazingly awesome is that?). I wish it weren’t so dark in there, because the room was pretty spectacular with original wooden floors and stunning tin ceilings, and beforehand they even let me create my own password (“jingle bells,” duh) and drink list. I casually mentioned that it would be “an informal meeting of media professionals donning festive holiday wear.” I’m not quite sure they were deciphering that in the manner I meant.
Some observations throughout the night: It seems sweater vests were all the rage in the 80′s/90′s (pic stolen from Nothing but Bonfires).
As were cardinals (wtf???).
Childhood bestie Jana got the award for “Most Festive Legs.”
Though Ashley was close with her Super Awesome Santa Slippers.
Speaking of Ashley, I finally got to meet her and Sensibly Sassy’s Sarah. They were both every bit as fun as they seem on the Internets. They went out to dinner downtown dressed like this prior to the party, which wins them extra cool points in my book (because I know they were seeking my approval and all, clearly).
My friends Jen from NYC (pictured above in the amazing shoulder-padded blue number) and Laurel (below), who are managing editors at hugely competitive regional mags here, both showed. Because Christmas is all about love, yo.
Here May—bedecked in an appropriate tee from one of her previous book launches—is disapproving of Moose, Jemima, and me “not putting the Christ back in Christmas” like herself. As Moose put it, “We’re like the jezebels of ugly sweaters, and May is the disapproving den mother.”
It was a highly entertaining evening, and now that it went over so well, I just might make Kristin’s Hideous Sweater Soiree an annual event (since, you know, as a journalist I cringe at calling something “the first annual so-and-so event;” nothing can be annual, after all, unless it happens more than once…another pet peeve to add to The List). I only hope Bourbon & Branch will allow us back last year now that they know what they’re in for…. And I think you all should plan on being in town around the second week of December and we can have one big bloggy shebang…what say you, Internets?
*Warning: I’m a little tipsy at the beginning of this post. By the time it concludes, however, I will have fallen asleep, woken up eight hours later, likely hungover, and spell-checked its brains out until there was really no sign that any drunkenness had inspired it in the first place.
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Your faces in that “disapproving” picture are PRICELESS.
That was amazing fun. Now I have to start thinking about what I’m going to wear next year!
Oh god, the Mediabistro email ruins my afternoons. Well, it did. But then I started deleting it the minute it appears and now all is better! Except for the fact that I, too, have watched a couple of regular writing gigs dry up due to the whole “we have no munnies” claim everybody is making these days. But then they make ME have no munnies, and how is this helping the economy? I thought Wal-Mart and Burger King wanted me to spend my way out a recession. So confused! All I can conclude is that my editors are un-American.
P.S. Killer (no, really) sweaters!
This party made my whole Christmas season. Thanks for organizing and inspiring, Madame Camels!
I LOVE Tacky Christmas Sweater parties! I am going to one this weekend and I have to hit up goodwill to see what I can find before Friday. I’m also a fan of your tights- very cute. AND your list cracks me up… the whole there/their/they’re, your/you’re, its/it’s thing drives me absolutely insane.
“But I’m not good with reality checks and am still living under the (false? true?) assumption that Obama will swoop into office on January 20, wave his magic Yes-to-Change wand and miraculously cure all that is bad with the world today. No? Yes? Who’s with me on this?”
I’m with you!!
And please, please invite me next year! I live in San Francisco too
oh lord! I think you might have broken my eyes with those pictures!
Looks like fun, though.
i hope you’ll be wearing that sweater when i see you in two weeks.
(two weeks!)
this is absolutely fantastic.
What a fabulous party! Tacky Sweater parties are awesome on their own, but adding the schnazzy locale & requiring a password just makes it extra special!
I just found your blog through the tacky sweater party on Metalia (and, as a teacher, I’m a little ashamed to admit I have owned sweaters that were very similar) and have added your blog to my reader. I am planning to start a travel blog in the summer after I retire this year and you have really inspired me.
Sooo, are you going to the Nashville Sweater Party that John has been raving about? He wants it to be an official family reunion-before-the-reunion.
I WANT TO COME!:) You look adorable (AS USUAL).
What a cool idea for a party! I want to come next year!! Oh, I’m officially a San Franciscan!! Woohoo!!!
I get to do this on Friday! Whilst on a party bus! Drinking!
I feel like I am the only one who didn’t attend an ugly sweater party.
I am impressed with your walk in heels in SF. When I was there for a few days, I wore heels once, and one night practically had to crawl down one of the steep hills on the way to a bar.
Sweeeet, we earned cool points! We were totally hoping for some! hehe, but seriously it was great meeting you. I had a great time!
That seems like a very festive festivus!!!
I totally need to host an ugly sweater party. Or come down there next year and attend yours
If attending next year’s party isn’t reason enough to get me back to SF, nothing is.
Heck yeah, I’m RSVPing now for next year’s party
See how I just invited myself there? 
i am so sad i missed this! maybe i’ll schedule my second annual (ha) trip to SF for next december instead of november…but we’re not taking the BART into the city!
Great idea for a Christmas party and way to go all on amazingly ugly sweaters!
1. I wish I knew you guys when I lived in SF.
2. I’m SO coming next year!
3. First annual anything is on my list of pet peeves too!