Matchers!

“We’re going to have matching PJs for Christmas again this year, right, Mom?” That Dude (TD) (11) eagerly inquired about 2.5 weeks before the big event.

Coordinated holiday jammies are NOT a tradition in our family, but I had snatched them up last year when I found Mickey and Minnie ones in stock in our sizes on sale. Our 2019 summer vacation had been a week of full-on Disney Magic TM in Orlando, so it felt right—serendipitous. But it was a whim—not the start of anything. Or so I thought.

“We could wear the ones from last year,” I ventured, only to be reminded that TD had outgrown his. We blinked at each other for a few beats.

He had me on the ropes. I should have just confessed that, no, I hadn’t calculated for family pajamas this year, but I couldn’t. He seemed so authentically jazzed by the prospect of being matchers once more—a true rarity in COVID times when his inner Eyeore has been on near-continuous display—that I just couldn’t. I assured him brightly that, of course we would have matching PJs again! And then promptly sequestered my fibbing self in the bedroom to figure out how to make it happen.

A couple hours into online searching, I still had nothing in my cart. Any sets that I liked AND had availability in all our sizes would not arrive in time for Christmas Eve. I needed a new strategy. OK: coordinating shirts only, and we’d just be mix-match on the bottom. Etsy to the rescue! I found red, short sleeve “2020 Stink Stank Stunk” shirts—with the Grinch hand disdainfully dangling a surgical mask to the side—that would fit us all, be delivered on time, and be on trend! I made the purchase and felt briefly jubilant to add some happiness to Christmas Eve night.

But the next day I found myself on the hunt again, this time for matching PJ pants only. I kept jumping down different rabbit holes, only to run into the same problems as the previous day: this pair was only available in 3 people’s sizes; that pair wouldn’t arrive until 2021. I forged on, now determined to succeed mostly for the sake of the quest. Dead end upon dead end for any style that I thought all four of us would like. I was nearly out of steam.

Half-heartedly, I clicked on a busy green design featuring line after line of snowflakes, reindeer, and various other festiveness from top to toe. Definitely not my first choice, but time was running out and I could take one for the team if everything else aligned. After all, they’d contrast well with the Stink, Stank, Stunk shirts and likely be acceptable to the rest of the family. All our sizes were in stock and the order would come on time: December 23rd, to be precise. Looked like this big-bottomed, wide-thighed mama would be rocking horizontal stripes on Christmas Eve.

The Etsy shirts arrived around during the week before Christmas and were perfect! But December 23rd came and went with no stripey jammie bottoms in sight, and Amazon seemed unsure of exactly where they were on their journey. I went to bed that night resigned to the idea of matching shirts only. But when I checked my notifications early Christmas Eve around 7:00 am, I was greeted with those words we all love to see: “Your package has been delivered.” There would be time to get the shirts and pants washed and dried before nightfall. And somehow, what I thought was just pants actually came with coordinated long sleeve “I’d Rather Be Sleeping” shirts. Fairly rich given that TD, the inspiration for this year’s matching jammies crusade, sincerely believes that sleep is for the weak. He would never “rather be sleeping.” Ever. Weirdly, my long sleeve bonus was a slightly different shade of green than the other three—but maybe it would distract people from focusing on my stripe-enhanced hiney.

Just before dinner, I placed the four sets of freshly-laundered (and mostly matching) PJs in a single box and wrapped it for a post-dinner reveal. TD and Little Big Boss (LBB) (13) opened the box together, and both were delighted. They dashed upstairs to their rooms immediately to change. I felt a surge of real happiness to witness their genuine enthusiasm at an age—and during a time—when we’re honestly struggling a bit achieve true harmony as a family. Who knew that uniforms was the answer? (Well, who knew other than TD?) Big Daddy and I quickly followed them up to change as well, and I felt nothing but love for those horizontal stripes as I did.