Morning, bit of a biased question given the nature of this group, but is it a cultural thing to dress up for Christmas and New Year's? Saw a post on Threads where someone attended a family event in Europe, think the husband was American and the wife's family European. The husband attended in decent but casual clothing while the wife's family were in suits and dresses. Wondering if this is a European thing, given this group is, I assume, heavily American, hoping for a good comparison of views. The comments were either 'why are they dressed up, who dresses up for Christmas/New Year's' or 'Everyone dresses up for Christmas and New Year's'. No in between, one extreme or the other. I never knew this was a thing, and if I'm honest, I've never dressed up for either. In our family, we're in pyjamas all day for both. At first, I thought the post was in reference to extended family get-togethers, which would have made sense, but I think it was just the family on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve at home. I've also noticed it in a group chat I'm in for my volunteer work; everyone who put in greeting videos was clearly dressed up. So my question is, is it a cultural/social class thing to dress up for Christmas and New Year's, or something everyone does? Thanks.

So got my year end blood work done yesterday and the results are back……took my A1C from 9.4 in April to 5.5 yesterday.

I tested out my wool Pea Coat New Year’s Eve. I would normally dress in a couple of layers, especially when outside but last night I spent 4+ hours outside wearing a hoodie and pair of light jeans and a toboggan so I could see just how warm a true wool coat could be. I was really surprised by how comfortable I stayed the entire time in this coat. Temps were down to 36 degrees and breezy but I never got cold. I have been looking into how people used to stay warm before all of the modern synthetic clothing inventions we have now like Goretex and Thinsulate and Polartec etc.