7 Meme-Themed Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Memes are beautiful monstrosities. As the world charges toward the end of a somewhat brutal 2016, there's an opportunity to celebrate/mourn the year's best and worst memes. That's right: Meme-themed ugly Christmas sweaters exist, and they are amazing.

Yes, 2016 has been a good year for memes and meme reboots, but not the best year for, you know, humanity. Unsurprisingly, The Top Ten, a crowdsourced "rate the worst things ever" site, lists Donald Trump's election as 2016's No. 1 transgression. Trump's rise to power is followed by the lingering effects of recent years' Ebola outbreaks in spot No. 2, and the deaths of David Bowie and Alan Rickman in spots No. 3 and 4, respectively. Brexit and many of the U.S.'s mass shootings and police brutality-related deaths also made 2016's top 100 worst things.

Simply put, it's been rough — which is exactly why you need a laugh. If you're like me, the constant barrage of a seemingly apocalyptic number of terrible events has driven you deep into the trenches of cynicism. But under pressure, diamonds are formed, which means now you can adorn your holiday bod with visual representations of the internet's coping mechanisms. The memes that spawned from 2016 are equal parts disturbing and hilarious — kind of like much of this year, eh?

1. Doge

Doge Ugly Christmas Sweater, $27, Amazon

I don't care what anyone says. Doge will never be dead to me. Though it surfaced on Tumblr in 2013, the doge meme has stuck around, occasionally resurfacing to grace us with its Comic Sans and Shiba majesty — like that time Republicans tried to remix doge with Bill and Hill.

2. Dat Boi

Dat Boi Unisex Sweater, $50, Holiday Fury

Dat Boi's origin is a twisty tale. According to Know Your Meme, Dat Boi began quietly on Facebook in 2014, but only achieved full meme-ness this year, with the iconic Animation Factory Essential Collection 3 frog making its inexplicable appearance. Just tell your grandparents it's a band.

3. Me To Me

Evil Kermit Sweater, $32, Etsy

Endlessly relatable, capable of inspiring pitch-perfect parodies, and featuring the meme universe's No. 1 favorite, Kermit the Frog. The meme comes from the 2014 movie Muppets Most Wanted , but Me To Me is a recent phenomenon, and an excellent outlet for all the humorously cynical thoughts the events of 2016 have inspired.

4. Barb, Come Back

Barb We Miss You Unisex Sweater, $50, Holiday Fury

Ah, Barb. The wildly popular surprise star of Netflix's Stranger Things, side character Barb was killed off in the middle of Season 1, but she remains forever in our hearts. There are many think-pieces about why Barb was so cultishly well received by viewers, but those of us who have been to the Upside Down already know at least part of the answer to that: her rad as hell fashion sense.

5. Crying Michael Jordan

Adult Unisex Jordan Crying Meme Ugly Christmas Sweater, $27, Etsy

Another meme that germinated in previous years (in 2009, this time) but surged to popularity this year, Crying Michael Jordan stems from Jordan's emotional speech during his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. His teary visage made its return briefly in May thanks to a tweet from rapper Ja Rule, but its momentum boomed when President Obama awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom in Nov., and Jordan's fresh tears made the meme cup runneth anew.

6. Snek

No Step On Snek Unisex Sweater, $50, Holiday Fury

This meme peaked in February 2016, born and bred on Imgur and dispatched to adoring fans via Facebook. Snek boasts multiple internet catnip attributes, like linguistic echoes of beloved Doge, adorable animals, and endless opportunity for captioning in Comic Sans and other generally hideous fonts.

7. The Arthur Fist

Arthur's Fist Of Fury Unisex Sweater, $50, Holiday Fury

This meme's originator, Twitter user @AlmostJT, described this iconic image as "so many emotions in one fist." It was soon adopted as pixellated shorthand for suppressed rage. If there's one quintessentially 2016 meme, this is it: A personification of That Feel When you gotta deal with the world doing its very best to p*ss you off.

Images: Courtesy Brands