Pajama Rants

My Stepmother started a tradition in my family, on Christmas Eve everybody gets new pajamas. They're fresh and new, and you sit around sipping your hot drink and take in the whole Night Before Christmas scene, the little ones looking so scrubbed and excited, the older ones with that glint in their eye because they know a secret. Getting up Christmas morning in the new pajamas was so much fun we never got dressed before noon.. The new pajamas just seemed to be the highlight. They helped to make the great memory an unforgettable one. Well darn it, I figured I would continue that tradition in my own family. My son's first Christmas, we hosted family and friends and I bought 4 new pairs of pajamas for all the kids that were here. It was thoughtful and well liked and we all felt good about it. Since then I've kept up the tradition. But somewhere between year one, and last year, it lost it's magic. Buying the pajamas became just another thing to have to buy, wash and get ready in time for Christmas! Last year I actually resented it and almost gave up! I placed an ad in the online classifieds because I was fed up with paying $25 a pair for pj's it added up to an additional $50 we were spending just on pajamas at Christmas! This was mostly due to procrastinating and ending up with the last of the store inventory (I know I know you can buy PJ's for $12 but that's not the moral of the story) In my ad I just asked for some clean pajamas in good condition, preferably from a smoke-free home. Oh my goodness! The feedback was so intense it ran the gamut from one end to the other. One generous soul offered to make me some pajamas for my poor children so they would not freeze and would have something special for Christmas. Another anonymous person sent me an e-mail describing what a low-life I was, that I should get a job and that "beggars can't be choosers" ! It struck me that it was such an odd request to people. How could a person who wasn't in great need or incredibly lazy want to buy second hand pajamas for Christmas? I'll tell you how - I ended up buying my son 5 pairs of pajamas for $15 from a very nice lady. I politely thanked and declined the lady who offered to make me some by explaining we are not a "family in need" and she was most grateful for the honesty.

I'm hoping that more people can come around to thinking it's not just needy people (or dirty beggars!) that are looking to economize, recycle and reuse things, even kids pajamas. My kids were 2 and 4 at the time, they don't care if the pajamas are new! And I wasn't going to buy them old stained rags for Christmas, just nice good clean ones.

The other point is that the pajamas were special because we didn't get 25 other gifts to go with them, they were not just another thing to add to the list, they were a big part of the overall gifts and we appreciated them, and did not get other pairs often.

So, I'm going to re-ignite that wonderful memory, with new pajamas for the kids this year, but they will hopefully be gently used or an incredibly good deal, and will make up a big part of what they get. And you can bet I will be putting up another ad.