Blogmania: Holiday Open House! Elf’s Pajamas

As a child there was a tradition in my home that I just could not resist passing on to my family. I have changed things up a bit and played up the Christmas “magic” a tiny bit more than my mom did but the general idea is the same. 

On Christmas Eve, while we are out at church, one of Santa’s elves comes for a visit.  This secret elf stops by to make sure that everything is in order for Saint Nick and leaves a freshly washed, cozy set of Christmas pajamas for each one us.  The pajamas are always left unwrapped under the Christmas tree. Eph loves to get his Christmas pajamas and loves that they are from the elves. 

Now here is the little secret…

Once I was a grown adult my mom told me that the reason she always gave me new pajamas on Christmas Eve was because she wanted the pictures from Christmas morning to be perfect. [I know isn’t she just the smart one?] She didn’t want the pictures of me opening my gifts in old stained t-shirts to be looked back on years later with the thought, “what was I wearing.” 

Now, as I said, I changed the tradition up with the elves and adding the grown ups pajamas. I try to buy a similar color or design for each of us. I should tell you that finding matching pajamas for the four of us is anything but easy. I have never done the actually matching pajamas, I think that I might just take my Martha fascination a tad too far. 

If you would like to add this fun little tradition to your home there are just a couple of things that you should consider.  First off, how do you get the pajamas under the tree?  We do the “forget something in the house” routine.  Once the kids are safely buckled in their car seats, one of us runs back in and puts the pajama’s under the tree.  Another idea I have considered is asking my neighbor to pop over and place them under the tree. You also need to come up with a plausible story as to why the elves have to check on the house.  Of course we don’t have a traditional fireplace so the pajama elves are their to look for other entrance points, like windows and doors. 

Once everyone is all snuggled up in their pajamas; we set out the reindeer treats, cookies & milk, and gather under the tree to read our favorite Christmas stories. 

Come back daily to enter the Sunshine Praises $20 gift certificate to my dear friend’s Etsy shop.  This is not a sponsored post. I am personally going to give one of my readers a GC to Vinyl Signs 4 Him just for participating in the Holiday Open House.

TO ENTER THE HOLIDAY OPEN HO– USE:

Please ENTER THE DIRECT URL to YOUR Holiday Entertaining post (post must include our giveaway button in it) in the link up below for YOUR chance to win the over $2,000 in prizes* – all chosen to make you the Holiday hostess with the MOSTESS!!

*All links must link directly to a winter/holiday entertaining post. Links to main pages will be deleted. All linked posts must include our giveaway button. Any posts without our button in them will be deleted. Winner will be chosen using random.org. from all eligible (remaining) links and announced on www.parkerpronline.com on Nov. 11, 2010 and winner will also be contacted via comment on winning post. Winner will then have 72 hours to submit their contact information to [email protected] in order to claim the prize package. If not claimed, a new winner will be selected from remaining eligible links.

TO ENTER THE SUNSHINE PRAISES GIVEAWAY:

• Post one comment on that current days post with a link to your Holiday Open House post and either Tweet or Facebook a link to the Sunshine Praises Holiday Open House Post. If you tweet be sure to include #PPRO. (1 entry per day)
• Winner will be chosen by using random.org at the close of the event.  Comments will be counted each day starting with this posting, day 2, day 3 etc.  Winners will be contacted via email (so make sure yours is listed) and have 48 hours to respond. I will choose a new winner if I do not have a response.