A Litte Fun Goes a Long Way

The past six weeks at work have been horrible. I won't go into it, but trust me. Two people got into a yelling match over two pieces of mica and a rivet gun. That's like getting worked up over making two copies of a pattern and sending them to a friend with some scissors. Not a big deal—this week it means the world might end.

So a couple of girls I work with and I got tired of being cranky all the time.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes I thrive and thrill in the realm of cranky. Revel in the angst of it all, like a teenager with nothing better to do than brood.

But I get bored pretty fast and move onto something productive. Usually. The past few weeks have been hard. So these girls and I decided to do something to make us feel better. The fact that everyone else seemed to love it is just a bonus.

First off there's something about an ugly sweater that makes people grimace and smile at that same time. Couple that with all of the lovely decoration schemes that come with Christmas time, and you've got an instant hit.

Yes, we had an ugly sweater party. We sent out an invitation, told people to wear the worst sweater they could find, bring a treat and have some fun.

We got some really horrible sweaters. We had more sugar and chips and salsa than any one group of people should consume in an entire month. (I may have had a few too many chocolate cookies, pieces of peanut brittle and fudge. Lots of fudge.) People walked around pointing and laughing at others—and no one got their feelers hurt. One woman put ornaments all over her sweater and bellowed inappropriate things about her balls for about five minutes too long. The fire department came to check on something or other (quarterly visit or something) and they were laughing hard.

Laughing. Smiling. People talking to one another in respectful, happy tones . . . and I won't even go into the look on people's faces when we handed out cute, little boxes of candy.

Seriously. We felt better. Everyone felt better.

That's Christmas. Even more than that, it should be life. Being angry takes so much effort! Unfortunately, like a bad habit, the effort becomes infinitely easier the more you put energy into it.

So if you're having a bad day, go do something for someone. It'll make at least one of you smile!