Skinny jeans and the forgotten holiday

In last week I have been out doing a lot of shopping in preparation for our trip to Utah that we took this weekend. Being from Southern California our family doesn't have very many "winter" clothes. As a matter of fact it has been six years since I last purchased myself a pair of jeans. Sure I've bought many pairs of shorts and capri pants over the years, but I've always had an issue with buying jeans because shopping for them is just so darn frustrating! The other day I decided to suck it up and go jean shopping.

After a failed attempt at finding affordable jeans that fit at our local mall (what a beauty of a place that is!) I found myself turning to a more familiar store for help: Kohl's. I decided to start in the "Misses" section. (I came to the conclusion that after I had Owen I no longer qualified as a "junior" so I probably shouldn't be purchasing clothing from that section.) I walked aimlessly through the misses department and started picking up all kinds of jeans in different styles and brands and headed to the dressing room.

As I began the tiring process of trying them all on I discovered that jean styles have drastically changed since I last shopped for them six years ago. I came to some conclusions about different styles of jeans that some of you may find helpful:

Low Rise: Creates a beautiful muffin top
Ultra Low Rise: Ultra muffin top with the added bonus of plumber's crack
Boot Cut: Tight on the thighs (cutting off circulation) and flares out from the knee. May as well call these jeans mini-bell bottoms

Then comes my personal favorite: the "skinny" jean. When I read the label "skinny" in my own naive mind I thought these jeans were going to make me look skinny. I thought to myself, "finally a jean that can work miracles!!!" I had all kinds of high hopes and dreams that the skinny jean was going to be the jean for me. Boy was I wrong!!!!!

Holly's take on the skinny jean: Does NOT make you look skinny!!!! In fact, it does the exact opposite! These jeans are super tight on your legs and get more and more narrow as they reach your ankles. The worst jean ever made!!! I am officially re-naming the "skinny" jean to the "make you look ridiculous jean that you only wanted to try on because of the extremely misleading name jean."

As I looked in the mirror at myself wearing these so-called "skinny" jeans I wanted to scream! "Who in their right mind would even create such a monstrosity for a woman to wear!!" I ripped the pants off and threw them in the large pile with the other rejected jeans. By this time I was so frustrated with shopping and angry at whoever came up with the idea of skinny jeans I didn't think my day could get any worse; then it did.

As I was standing in the dressing room staring at the heaping pile of rejected denim ready to punch someone, a Christmas song came on (can you believe that?). That just put me over the edge completely!

It's still the beginning of November , why are Christmas songs being played already?? Then I got to thinking, "why is it that the day after Halloween stores break out all the Christmas stuff, hang decorations, play Christmas music, and workers start wearing those stupid red Santa hats and telling me "happy holidays" after I make a purchase? Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and Christmastime, but not in the beginning of November. I mean whatever happened to Thanksgiving???

I have the best memories of Thanksgiving from my childhood. I probably have better memories of Thanksgiving as a child than I do of Christmas. I look forward to Thanksgiving every year. I love the big Thanksgiving meal, family togetherness, football on TV, riding quads, craft day, after Thanksgiving shopping, all of it. Why does Thanksgiving get lost in all the hoopla and preparation for Christmas???

As I pondered these thoughts on Thanksgiving I found myself feeling sorry for Thanksgiving and decided that I would not forget it and I would celebrate Thanksgiving to it's fullest this year by not falling into the early Christmas trap that the retail world sets for all of us.

After making the decsion to kind of boycott Christmas until after Thanksgiving my spirits kind of lifted (like I was really sticking it to Christmas for being so overbearing). I scooped up the pile of horrible non-flattering jeans and flung them on the "go-back rack" and continued with my search for the perfect pair of jeans.

In Conclusion:

1. Don't buy skinny jeans unless you are Heidi Klum or happen to have a body like hers

2. Don't forget about poor Thanksgiving, it's an important holiday too you know!!