Residents and staff competed for prize
Ugly Christmas sweaters can still bring the beauty of laughter.
At the Parkside Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation at Ellijay, residents and staff competed in an ugly Christmas sweater competition. The event was part of the nursing home’s 12 Days of Christmas celebration activities.
“We tried to make it fair. I took Polaroids of just the sweaters,” Activities Director Diana Drake said.
After that, votes decided the event.
This year, resident Trish Segers won first place, resident Shirley McKin won second place and concierge team member Denee Fleeman won third place.
“It brings out a little more competitiveness, and they just get super excited and they’re all laughing,” Drake said of the competition’s impact on residents and employees. “It’s therapeutic.”
But the photos of the sweaters fail to do justice to their awful glory.
“We have all kinds of stuff here for people to get wacky or creative with,” she said.
From the front, Segers’s sweater displays a very outraged-looking gingerbread man. But front view photos hide the man’s gingerbread posterior on the back.
Segers, a resident in the nursing home since 2004, has won ugly sweater competitions on a cruise with this sweater before.
She has two sons, enjoys swimming and loves the community she has found at the nursing home.
McKin’s sweater wasn’t just bought ugly; it was made that way. Along with her daughter, McKin bought the sweater, then went to work making it worse, adding an avalanche of ridiculous details to the sweater’s front.
At 89 years old, McKin is a Gilmer County local. She loves the activities and people at the nursing home, especially playing bingo.
Fleeman also used a homemade touch to enhance her sweater’s natural ugliness. When she holds her arms above her head, the sweater transforms into a wreath. The tinsel and bow have been fixed to the sweater using hot glue.
Fleeman has worked at the nursing home for three years and loves to hike and take nature photos.
Like any contest, there were many people who achieved amazing feats without getting onto the podium.
“It’s such a good thing to see everybody mingle and everybody interact,” Drake said. “It’s a family type environment. We make sure every resident has a gift, that every resident feels welcome.”