The Ghost of Christmas Presents

Mr. Dickens is probably rolling in his grave from that pun on his classic, A Christmas Carol.  But, he'll just have to keep on rolling because I have a little story to tell.  

HALLOWEEN was near: to begin with.  There is no doubt whatever about that.  The imminence of the day was verified by the calendar, the time keeper, the marker of days and seasons on the wall.  I circled it and my circling of a day meant that it was indeed important and near at hand.  Old Halloween was as near as near could be.

I saw some ghostly fair isle sweaters at Modcloth, but unfortunately, they were all sold out and my only hope was to scour resale sites well after the big day in case one should turn up.  They did of course eventually turn up and at nearly double the original asking price!  And so, Halloween came and went.  

Halloween was dead as a doornail, but I wasn't done hoping.  On a mere whim, I decided to search "ghost sweater" on Aliexpress to see if anything similar and reasonably priced turned up. To my surprise the very sweater appeared in both colors I had wanted and for a mere $16 which is a little over 25% of the original price.  Fortune smiled!

I ordered the sweaters knowing they would never make it in time for Halloween, since it was gone, but I thought it would be a fun gag to wear the sweater at Christmas in homage to Mr. Dickens, the author of the only Christmas ghost story that I know of, although surely the Victorians had others which have been lost to the ages.  

By the way, if you're ever listening to The Most Wonderful Time of the Year sung by Andy Williams and he comes to the line,  "there'll be scary ghost stories, and tales of the glories of long, long ago,"  and some jerk scoffs, "who the hell tells ghost stories at Christmas?!"  You can boldly reply, "Mr. Charles F---ing Dickens; that's who!"  You may also toss your cup of eggnog in the scoffer's face at this point should you have one close at hand. 

November came and went.  I was still waiting on my sweaters, still hoping they'd make it in time for Christmas.  And then came and went December too.  I watched my order make it to customs, return to the seller, leave again, make it customs again and then......nothing.

For three long months I waited and watched as nothing much happened and suddenly last week I received an alert that the package was in Chicago and would arrive shortly!  I was pleasantly surprised by the lovely quality of these sweaters.  They're both thick, well made and spot on for the original.  I wish I had been able to choose my own size, as they are a bit big, but I don't mind the relaxed fit too much and after so much waiting, I'm not about to send them back.

I would like to note two things here: 1.  I have modified the fit of this sweater for my photos.  I alter sweaters with yard as my thread and a plastic needle that I've borrowed from my daughters' crafting kits and it always works quite well to take in the sides of a sweater.  2. I contacted the seller several times and they were always quite helpful, patient, and willing to give me a refund should my order not arrive though they held out hope to the end and very fortunately.  Aliexpress gave the order 90 days to arrive and it ended up taking 83 days, but it did at last arrive.

I thought here in this quiet little cemetery would be a nice spot for a few ghostly photos and it is also here that the tale of these ghosts of Christmas presents from Christmas past comes to its end.  I'll have one more post on the way with the other color of this sweater before the month's end.  But in the mean time, who finally got her amazing ghost story sweater?  This girl!!

Shopping Info:  Ghost sweater from Aliexpress in orange or black