Happy National Sock Day
It probably comes as no surprise that today is a holiday I choose to celebrate.
I’ve always loved to know the history of holidays.
Where did National Sock Day come from?
Apparently, it was the sock company Pair of Thieves that created National Sock Day on December 4th. Then, in 2016, it was declared (though, I did not know who declares national holidays until now — the Registrar at National Day Calendar) December 4th to be National Sock Day.
If socks are your thing like they are mine, there are other sock-related holidays — May 8th is National No Sock Day and May 9th is National Lost Sock Day.
As someone who has over 400 pairs of socks, you might think that I have many sock pairs missing half. Surprisingly, I do not. All of my socks have partners, though sometimes I do like to mismatch my socks, especially on the 6 packs of socks, on purpose. I will often pair themed socks together, instead of 2 Yoda socks on my feet, I may have a Chewbacca and Yoda because they go together without being completely matchy-matchy. Though, I do have plenty of socks that I wear with the original match.
I want to get back to those 400 pairs of socks. How did I get there? Read below for the start of my sock love with an excerpt from Socks to Success: Be Memorable! Branding to Generate More Referrals (available on amazon at https://amzn.to/3Je61UZ).
Now, since it has been several years since we ended the sock journey, it is time to start again. As I unpacked my holiday items, I saw that I had WAY too many pairs of socks (oh my) to wear even for the #25socksofChristmas. That, paired (get it, paired, like socks) with the fact that my sock collection continues to grow, and grow, and grow, it is time to see what the collection looks like now, and how many I have. Now, I have reduced my collection over the years, giving plenty of gently worn socks to my little siblings while throwing worn-out ones away, so it is possible I have less than 400. It is also possible that I have more. Who knows! I don’t, but over the next year (give or take) it is time to find out.
I would LOVE to hear about your sock collection, or other collections you love and how you have them a part of your life. And, I hope you are ready for LOTS of sock photos on social media.
From the book:
In 2011, my socks began to take on a life of their own! My family and I were celebrating Christmas, and it was present-giving time. I had a new pair of Christmas socks that I really wanted to wear… and even though it was cold in Cincinnati, I put on my capris jeans with my holiday shirt and my red, Santa-inspired, knee-length socks, complete with fuzzy white tops.
While I really liked my socks, my sister Tracie constantly razzed me about my unfashionable socks.
Fast forward to Christmas 2012, and I was spending another Christmas with my family. This year, my sister gave me socks that had unicorns on them. I loved unicorns growing up, they were my spirit animal before having spirit animals was cool. When she gifted me unicorn socks, I thought they were perfect. The thought behind the gift? Maybe more sinister.
For Christmas, she had gone online and typed in “ugly socks,” and there she found them.
These were one of the first pairs of socks I remember owning that had a non-holiday-related design, meaning I could now wear my FUN SOCKS year-round!
In 2014, with my sock collection growing, my husband had a brilliant idea: “Why don’t you do a 25 socks of Christmas on Facebook? Wear a different pair of holiday socks each day then post a photograph of the socks with #25socksofchristmas.“
For my first pair of socks, I paid homage to my sister for her influential pair of socks that only she and I owned. How? It was two pairs of socks that I had mismatched on purpose. They seemed like the perfect pair of socks to start the 25 Socks of Christmas.
I had a BLAST doing the #25socksofchristmas! As we got closer to December 25th, more and more people asked me what socks I was wearing. It became a thing!
I was sad when it came to an end.
Fast forward to the next year when Rob asked, “Why don’t you see how long it would take for you to wear all your socks?” While I barely had enough socks to make it through the holidays the year before, my collection was growing.
Starting October 1st of 2015, it was time for #TiffaniesSocks. The rules were simple. Each time I wore a pair of socks, I would post on social media using the hashtag and number of each pair. After I washed the socks, I hid them away, only to wear them again once I had worn every pair I owned.
Of course, I started with the unicorn socks. I hoped that I would have enough socks to get me to December when I would pull out my holiday socks to make it through the end of the year. Somehow, 88 pairs later, I made it through Christmas and into the new year!
18 months later, in March of 2017, I finally wore my last pair of socks!
While I had less than a hundred pairs when I started, the socks gifted to me and the few I bought on my own had grown into a massive collection!
That was 18 months where I talked about my socks, showing them off online and in social media. I was now known as the sock lady!