This year, each of my "big" girls (that means Nicole and Chelsea and NOT Melanie) blogged about their favorite Christmas traditions as part of their 12-days of Christmas postings. The posts were fun AND meaningful! I pondered upon doing the same thing - for just a brief second - and then tossed that idea to the wind! You are welcome to check out their awesome postings here and here, if you so desire.
I will, however, do one traditions post.
The Christmas pajamas!
When I little (and big) we were always allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Sometimes it was new pajamas. Sometimes not.
When Greg and I started our own little family, we continued the Christmas Eve one gift tradition -- but with a twist. That gift was always pajamas.
For many years I simply purchased darling pjs for each child. A few times, I oiled up my sewing machine and made darling pjs. But generally, as long as there were pjs, it didn't really matter.
And then it happened.
In the year 2004 I was struck with some rare disease that caused me to actually sew matching pajama pants for our whole family! And believe it or not, I actually enjoyed it! I don't have digital photo documentation of that momentus event, and since my scanner is currently out of working condition, there is still no photo proof. Just trust me.
This was also the year that the tradition of going to a movie on Christmas day in our matching pajamas came to be.
However, the disease continued into the year 2005 ---
And the next year I did it again ---
And again ---
And then I regained control of my senses in 2008. Maybe it was due to the fact that we'd had two weddings and sent out a missionary. But we still all had to match!
By 2009 I had again lost control of my common sense mechanism, or maybe it was just because I found some really sweet flannel I wanted to use, so the Bernina and I became one! Especially since this year I made jammies for fifteen, which included Chase's missionary companion and our darling niece and her adorable children. Whew!
The madness continued in 2010 --- with a total of 16 --- Chase was home, but we added sweet Andy! Barkley even scored this year!
This year - 2011 - with the unusual occurance of Utah State making it to a bowl game (woohoo Potato Bowl!) my feelings of pride in our local university spurred me into purchasing USU jammies for all! Don't worry -- we match, even though we were in three separate locations this year! And no movie this year. Christmas was on Sunday, after all. We hit the theater the next day, but not ala matching pjs.
I must admit, the pajama preparation this year was pretty low-key and non-stressfilled for me!
And so the tradition continues on and on and on and on! Will the 2012 Christmas pajamas be home-made or purchased? You'll have to wait and see!
I love Christmas jammies but have a very hard time finding matching ones, and am not exactly a proficient seamstress. So I buy whatever I can find. But now I want matching like you! They are so cute!
Posted by: Emily Foley | January 02, 2012 at 10:46 AM