New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve!

Welcome to Day 23 of Partners In A Pair Tree – Kelly and Mo Celebrate December

New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve!

 Ha! Fooled ya! It’s December 23rd! There’s still two more sleeps!

It’s true. It is December 23rd. I’m posting this early on purpose so you’ll still have time to zip out and pick up cozy pairs of new pyjamas for all the elves at your house should you be so inspired. Aren’t I clever?

New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve! is a McKenzie family tradition based on one observed when my nieces, now 31, were tiny. Their mom, my sister, somehow cottoned upon the idea herself. It certainly wasn’t a tradition when I was growing up. Every Christmas Eve my two siblings and I would stumble into bed wearing the usual well-worn jammies of the night before.

As proof have a gander at this 2006 photo. Clearly my dear Mom was entirely oblivious to the fact that a photo was being taken. Her attention was squarely focussed on the sleeve of Meredith’s new sleepwear.

The annual inherent joy on my nieces’ and nephew’s faces as they unwrapped their cozy festive jammies led me to adopt the same tradition for my two children. Since Meredith and Henry were babies Christmas Eve was the night they finally got new pyjamas got to lovingly unwrap that gift blatantly labelled:

“Open Me on Christmas Eve!“

The fun didn’t stop there. Once they donned their new PJ’s, I obsessively  patiently took endless a few select photos to document that current version. As a result, we possess a photographic pyjama history that spans nearly twenty years. Looking back over these pics taken on New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve! one can discern several things.

The first one is that my family lived in a frigid climate that called for flannelette pyjamas. Almost all of the pictures confirm this fact. Not to worry the average temperature for this time of year was a balmy 6 degrees C/ 46 degrees F and we were blessed with central heating.

The second fact gleaned from the photos is that for the first few years of New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve! my rigid soldiers beaming elves were thrilled to immediately don the new nightwear and pose for me in front of the Christmas tree. This changed as they got older. In the latter years, the jammies were only worn once the night grew too late for a potential pop in visit by dear family members.

The third thing captured is the fact that in our household you could open two presents on Christmas Eve before going to bed. Those powder blue twinlike sprites were clearly delighted with their newly unwrapped stuffie pals. Good thing the stuffies weren’t alive; Henry was hanging on pretty tight.

Further perusal of the photos taken on New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve! reveals that as my children got older they began to request a tweaking or two of the tradition. For example, around the age of eleven Henry advised me he no longer required a pyjama top. Just the pants would be fine.

Sadly it meant I would no longer be treated to such precious photos the likes of the one above. At least not featuring Henry.

For some reason, it never occurred to me to buy them pyjamas at any time of year other than New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve! This meant that with the exception of copious oversized swim meet t-shirts the PJ option in our house was limited to these gems. Obviously I had to choose carefully. Most of the time I managed to get the right pair for each of them. Something that my children liked and would therefore wear.

However there was that one New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve! night that I got things very wrong. Very wrong indeed.

Perhaps you think I ought to apologise to my children for offering up this detailed pictorial display of them in their pyjamas. You could be right. However, I don’t think I will. As neither they nor their pals tend to read kellylmckenzie.com I suspect I’m safe. Yes, I’m fairly confident this second to last Kelly contribution to Partners In A Pair Tree will fly well under their radar and my two will return to their normal lives unscathed…

It is with great delight that I add the Day 23 ornament to the Partners in a Pair Tree. It is the picture of the time I got it very right!

Enough about our New Pyjamas? Must Be Christmas Eve! tradition. I’m curious about you. Do you have a similar tradition or are you sensible and roll with the usual jammies? If you’d care to share, I’d love to hear!