Once the Halloween decorations are cleared away, the smell of Christmas begins to waft through the air. Of course, it doesn't feel like the Christmas season is really approaching until Microsoft unveils its annual Ugly Sweater (opens in new tab). This year's expensive geek-inspired knitwear features everyone's favorite digital office companion, Clippy.

Last year's Microsoft Windows sweater was dedicated to the Minesweeper (opens in a new tab), the Christmas tree-shaped game board had bombs and emoji Santa hats, and Clippy, the mascot of Microsoft Word and other software, stood on a stack of paper standing on top of a stack of paper.

My fingers are shattered as I say this, but you may be too young to know Clippy and his friends. Clippy was an animated companion that floated above the documentation, asking for help or getting in the way. There were various skins, including animal, but the default was good old Clippy, a paperclip with deep, soulful eyes.

As a child, I mostly clicked on Clippy to enjoy the animation, but occasionally a hint would appear in the balloon. Also, sometimes an option would appear when you clicked on it. I think most adults generally turned them off because they were huge animations that interfered with their work. What a concept!!!

In the terms of this sweater, Clippy has a message for you, just like in the good old days. Happy Holidays!" the familiar blurb assures the call back, and the only option, "Ok," which sounds very unexciting, is even better. This, coupled with a rather tasteless color scheme and an overall theme that reminds one of work, makes this an ugly sweater winner on almost every level. It doesn't quite live up to these gamer sweaters (open in new tab), though.

Unfortunately, as always, Microsoft's sweaters are extremely expensive for what they cost and are already selling out in droves. As of this writing, only sizes 2XL and 3XL are left, and shipping costs to countries outside the US are expensive.

In the meantime, let us remember that the holiday spirit does not appear on the outside in the form of sweaters, but is inside of us all the time. This holiday season, in my own way, I will keep the clippy spirit alive and "Happy Holidays!" etc., to which I will respond with a firm "Ok.