Holiday Traditions: Christmas Pajamas

I love Christmas morning.

I have always loved Christmas morning.

When I was a child it was the excitement of Santa and opening gifts.

As a young adult it was the very grown up fun of getting to drink mimosas with the grown-ups as we prepared brunch.

And now as a parent, it is seeing Christmas through the twinkling eyes of my own children.

During the majority of the ?? number of years stretching from my childhood until now, one thing has remained pretty consistent.  My mom usually gives us new pajamas, just for Christmas Eve.   I think this family tradition came about a bit unintentionally.  We haven’t made a point to keep it going through each and every year, but it just wouldn’t seem right if I woke up on Christmas morning in my usual sleep attire: a t-shirt and yoga pants.

Last year my parents spent Christmas with us here in Maine and my mom solidified the pajama tradition for our family by introducing a new book to our Christmas literature collection, “The Pajama Elves“.  In this soon-to-be-classic Christmas tale, magical elves sew special pajamas to help children sleep soundly on Christmas Eve so that Santa may visit them as they sleep.

The “elves” left a huge gift bag on our front porch on Christmas Eve with pajamas for everyone… even the adults.  It was so much fun.

The Pajama Elves, our new Christmas tradition

The Pajama Elves, our new Christmas tradition

We all woke up Christmas morning in our magical Christmas pajamas and took our time enjoying the morning and trying to make it last as long as we could, as we have done each and every year before.  We stayed in our pajamas and played with the kids and their new toys.  Laughing.  Enjoying our late breakfast and mimosas.  And at some point later in the day we begrudgingly got dressed for the rest of the day in our “real clothes”.

And this year, even though we won’t be visited by family, our tradition will continue.  Brown Santa (my nickname for the UPS man) delivered our Christmas Pajamas just this week, sent with love by my sweet mother.  I didn’t peek at what they looked like because I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.

Here are the main reasons that I love this tradition:

  • The kids can’t wait to put them on… and go to bed for the night.
  • It keeps me from wearing the previously mentioned t-shirt and yoga pants.
  • The grown-ups get to be a part of the “magic”.  Whenever my husband wears his pajama pants from last year, our son still calls them his “magic pants”.
  • Our pictures from Christmas morning are always pretty great.  Even with our crazy bed-heads.
Curly Q and Little Man - Christmas 2012

Curly Q and Little Man – Christmas 2012

Does your family have a neat Christmas tradition?  Share it with us on the Graceful Mess Facebook page.

 

Jennifer Collins

About Jennifer Collins

Jennifer is a mom with a day job and she likes to write about her victories and messes along the way. She is living an adventurous life as a Georgia transplant learning to thrive in Maine, with a strong Southern accent that screams that she is "from away" and a new-found love for lobster rolls and timely snow plows. Jennifer's writing has been featured on BlogHer, iVillage Australia, Daddy Doin' Work, and Mamapedia.