Christmas Eve Traditions...matching PJ's

There are certain traditions we all have for the Holidays. One of the big ones we have is matching pj's. This tradition has been done in my family for as long as I can remember. Some years sewing has been more difficult due to new baby or bed rest so those years we had coordinating pjs more than matching. But other years like this one it's been money more than time that's been tougher so that's when I sew the pjs. There are a few reasons over the years that I found I love this tradition. First, it's pretty much the ONLY pair of pj's I buy my kids the entire year. Other than that it's mostly just warn out clothes and old soccer uniforms become the standard pjs. So they have at least one or two cute..or what I would call cute pj's. Ones they can wear at someone else's house, for pj day at school or when people come over to our house.

I also love it for the fact that come Christmas day all the people are nice and coordinating in the pictures. No random weird colors or other other such things. I know that most people don't mind, but I like the finish product of my pictures and scrapbook pages to look certain ways, and dictating what my family wears is obviously something important to me on most occasions, so why should Christmas morning be any different. Luckily it's been a tradition that they all look forward to and are excited to see what they look like that no matter how random or weird they may be, they are excited about them and wear them. John did make me promise this year when after last year all the pants being the same except one back leg of his different becuase I didn't buy enough material and then this year when the material I bought I couldn't get enough of one fabric and had to combine fabrics on the back of both his and my pants that next year I make sure I have enough of one type. But when you are able to get fabric for next to nothing, and then use old t-shirts that you iron over with new material to cover old logos and such to make the outfits so they cost nothing or close to it, well you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. But it is a sign that next year I will plan earlier like in the summer to watch for material so I know I get enough. I owe that to John after several years of him getting the short end of the stick on pj pants.


Another tradition is in addition to the pj's we open on christmas eve, we each get to open one more present. Some think this spoils christmas, but I think my kids appreciate that one gift more than the others they open the next day. It's one gift by itself, no other gift to compete with. It gets to be played with or admired for a night by itself before the rest of the gifts. For me both days are great just in such different ways. My kids typically pick a gift from each other and the thank yous are so great that night. Harrison picked one from my mom with a cute lego target dog. He had so much fun building it that night before he went to bed. The girls had their first tea party with the tea set Harrison gave Ellie and Rachel already started dressing her barbies in the clothes that Ellie gave to him. Matthew was a little more dangerous as he opened the hotdog cooker that Harrison gave him for scout campouts. It doubles nicely as a sword or poker if you ask him, his siblings would not agree.

We then went to check one more time where Santa had made it to using Nordac tracker. We watched santa start out in austrailia and japan, go through china and russia through africa and the uk. By the time the kids went to bed he was in South America and had hit some of Canada and the easter coast of the US. It's funny, John griped at me when I first told him to give Rachel an update early in the day, but we knew the path he took even after the kids went to sleep because the curiostiy of how he would travel the world had gotten ahold of John. To say that will be a new tradition is an understatement.