Don’t you just love those brisk fall and winter evenings when you can come home from work and slip into your favorite, most comfortable pair of toasty flannel pajamas and snuggle up on the couch in front of a warm fire? Me too.
That’s why I celebrated the arrival of the cool weather season this year with a Grammie Jammie Season Kick-off gathering. It was a Friday night in mid-September and I invited friends and family to stop by, sip a glass of wine, munch some tasty nibblers and enjoy some good conversation. The catch was that everyone had to wear their pajamas! After all, how could we celebrate Grammie Jammies without actually wearing them?
Now you may be wondering just why it is I call my comfortable, reliable flannel PJ’s, “Grammie Jammies”, and it’s a good question. You see, my Grandmother, who resided just next door to where I grew up, lived a long life and finally left this world when she was just a few months shy of her 98th birthday. As she slowed down in her later years, the one thing that was constant was that she was always cold and so took to wearing flannel pajamas around the house to stay warm in the winter.
The pajamas usually had a delicate floral print pattern on the soft material, a button down, long sleeve top with a left hand breast pocket and elastic stretch-top pants. All the ingredients of warmth and comfort. Following her passing in 1999, my sister began sporting them. A short time later, I began wearing them around the house as casual wear and then they became a much appreciated, holiday gift idea from my niece. It became a bit of a family tradition. In my Grandmother’s honor we dubbed them “Grammie Jammies” since she was the one who first introduced us to their charm.
Today, Grammie Jammies come in all types of colors and patterns. I even have a pair that is lime green with skiing polar bears! They’ve come a long way from their modest floral beginnings. For the season kick-off event, I broke out a brand new pair. I love the feel of the never worn, baby soft flannel before it has had time to build up pills from multiple washings, stains from cooking, and worn out knees and elbows from kicking around the house.
This pair was blue with white and black Dalmatian’s and pink piping along the blouse front, breast pocket and pant and sleeve cuffs. I was excited to un-wrap them from their neatly folded package held together with an off-white ribbon which was buttoned in place on the second button on the pajama top. The package proudly merchandised the pajamas as if they were still on display on the store shelf with stiffened cardboard to help them hold their packaged shape. The ribbon wrapped around the back to include the folded pants, and then connected again to the front of the pajamas on the same button. Ahhh. New Grammie Jammies.
The party was a huge success. What was originally planned for a quick hour or so, didn’t break up for 3 – 4 hours. It could have been the warmth of the fireplace, the food, or even the homage to our inspiration for the event, Gramma Holmes, but I think the best part was the genuine friendships of family and neighbors ranging from 29 – 88 years old, all who just enjoyed a good reason to party in their pj’s like young girls.
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