In recent months, I have joined the swell of people swearing off Twitter in the name of better mental health. After years and years, the doomscrolling finally got to me… but I wasn’t going to do anything crazy like do something productive with this newfound time, so I’ve been hopping on TikTok a lot more lately. And in my scrolling there (not doomscrolling; just regular-type scrolling), I kept hearing about “Tacky Christmas” and wondering “What is Tacky Christmas?”
Well… I found out and I hate it.
Correction. I don’t hate Tacky Christmas. I hate the designation. Because as far as I can tell “Tacky Christmas” can only really be defined as “Holiday decor that does not appear to have been carefully curated specifically to look good on social media.” Colored lights on a tree? Tacky Christmas. That Elmo ornament with your name written on it that your grandma gave you on your first Christmas? Tacky Christmas. Light up Santa in the front yard? Tacky Christmas. Tinsel? Oh you better believe that’s giving Tacky Christmas.
Basically, if it brought joy to you as a child it’s now considered tacky. It stands as an antithesis to “Aesthetic Christmas” or, as I’ve decided I’m going to call it from here on out “Boring Christmas.”
Fortunately, there are plenty of folks on TikTok who are having absolutely none of this shady sobriquet.
“Why the f*ck are we calling it a tacky Christmas tree?” @jessicacampbellco marvels. “[Those are] trees I grew up with!”
“Christmas tree decorations are not supposed to be sleek and classy and minimalist!” urges @whilefloriansleeps. “It’s supposed to look like joy has thrown up in your house. It’s supposed to be a little bit tacky.”
In case my cheeky tone didn’t give me away completely: I am firmly on Team Tacky Christmas but I prefer to think of it as “Traditional Christmas” or “Nostalgic Christmas” or “Christmas That Doesn’t Take Itself Too Seriously.” My tree proudly displays about 40 years of decor. Ratty turtle doves perch beside a crumbling cardstock star I made in kindergarten that had glitter on it at one point but is now just chipping Elmer’s glue. There’s pictures of my kids and plastic fairies and about 12 different hedgehogs because, at some point, people began to see me as a hedgehog lady. (No complaints; they’re not wrong.) My mantle includes a skull with a Santa hat, a singing Gingerbread man plush, and a bird that looks like a mushroom I bought at Target for $3.50 on sale.
None of it matches. None of it is coordinated. There is no theme or anchoring color. And despite all of this? The vibes are immaculate.
Listen, if a beige monochromatic Christmas tree accented with tasteful, carefully coordinated gold ornaments sparks joy for you: far be it from me to suggest you should do anything else. What is this holiday about if not joy?
But please, don’t call everything else “tacky.”
