Religious, sophisticated, zany, Christmas ties here in the Temple area vary widely and wildly.
Seated behind a wooden desk in his Temple office, real estate agent Guy Fowler reaches down and pushes a button sewn inside the snowflake-covered blue tie dangling from his neck. A snowman’s red nose lights up, and an instrumental, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” fills the room.
Fowler said he started collecting Christmas ties after his father passed away six years ago. He spread his collection - 15 and counting - across his desk and explained how he got started.
“Dad was really into novelty ties, and so, the acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Fowler said. “Once you get two of anything, you become a collector.”
With a backdrop of assorted Christmas songs emanating from a bright, red tie, Fowler, 53, pointed out neckwear that features Snoopy, Santa wearing red long johns, and one new tie, “cheap as you can find,” a white elephant gift he got that morning.
“I thought it’d be the worst possible gift I could give them,” said the culprit, T.A. Cook, a retired high school football coach living in Temple. “They were a dollar each.”
Cook said he cleaned out one Dollar Tree store’s Christmas tie selection, and raided another. All told, he presented 17 ties to the men’s social group that regularly frequents Nifty’s 50s & 60s café in Temple.
“Everybody gripes about the Christmas tie,” Cook said. “But they seemed to like it. Surprised me. The prank didn’t work too well.”
Discount stores aren’t the only ones purveying Christmas ties.
Ties featuring hollies, toy soldiers and the Three Wise Men riding camels are available for $13 each at Macy’s department store. Ringing up a bottle of perfume, Julio Almanza sports a black and green tie shaped like a Christmas tree.
Since he breaks out the Christmas ties in mid-December, and he doesn’t like to wear the same tie twice, his collection of eight may come up short. Alamanza said he may be headed to the tie department soon.
Over at the Temple Chamber of Commerce, Ken Higdon sports a blue tie with Christmas ornaments from Brooks Brothers, a gift from a relative. He owns about eight or nine Christmas ties, begins wearing them in early December when the annual Christmas parade hits downtown.
“The good thing about Christmas ties, you collect them year after year. And it’s always new come Christmas time,” chamber president Higdon said. “It’s like … I don’t remember them because you’re only wearing them a short period of time.”
Known by friends and family for his Christmas ties, Higdon says he’s easy to shop for. New ones keep showing up under the tree, year after year.
“I’ve got funny ones, Texas ones,” he said. “I’ve got religious ones … 12 days of Christmas.”
Speaking of the 12 days, Larry Howell continues sporting his Christmas ties until Jan. 6, the end of the liturgical Christmas season known as the Epiphany.
Howell, president of the Temple Downtown Development Alliance, has amassed about a dozen Christmas ties. He bought his first one more than two decades ago when he worked at a clothing retailer - selling ties, naturally.
“My favorite one is very subtle, it has evergreen boughs with a gold ribbon running through it,” Howell said. “The one I get the most compliments on is probably the least expensive tie; it’s solid black background with large, brightly colored Christmas balls.”
Sounds like Howell wouldn’t be interested in the $6 Homer Simpson tie available at J.C. Penney. Hapless Homer suffers an electric shock while connecting two extension cords.
A few years back, fiddling with a copy machine cartridge, Howell’s Grinch tie soaked up some magenta ink. “It was trashed,” he said.
As for newcomers who have little experience with Christmas ties but have recently joined this proud fraternity, Howell offers this simple advice.
Be careful with the giblet gravy.
