Jammies

One would have to be blind to not notice the assault of Christmas goods poised and waiting to be put into shopping carts, in-person or virtually. The Halloween candy was barely stocked on the shelves when the Ho-Ho-Ho paraphernalia made an appearance. And it is full-on marketing now. I suspect many folks will feel the need to do more purchasing than usual due to the difficulty of celebrating the usual traditions of Christmas this year. 

One tradition that has always puzzled me is the matching pajamas phenomenon. It is difficult to pin down the origin story of this tradition but suffice it to say, it did not start with my generation. We were lucky to have a decent hand-me-down pair of pajamas much less nightwear that looked like the rest of my family of nine. We also did not have a camera that could take the perfect selfie for a social media post. Our cameras were point and shoot with a flash cube, if you were lucky. We had to wait for the roll of film to fill up and then it was taken to our local drug store. We would wait a couple of weeks for the photos to be returned in packets with our name on it. The photos usually contained a series of duds. Photoshopping was not an option. Our photos were real, red eyes and all.

If you are a matching jammies family, I apologize for my bewilderment and covert judgment. Some families say they love the tradition and continue it in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way. There is no amount of tongue-in-cheeking that could get me to  a) buy matching pajamas and  b) take a photo for the world to see. The photos I see of this craze often portray a lovely little family, giggling and frolicking in adorable reindeer printed flannel nightwear. Everyone seems to love their newly received pajamas and they all look cozy and ready for hot cups of cocoa, so very hygge. 

My utilitarian approach to clothing is perhaps the reason for my hesitancy to embrace this craze. I could probably set up a matching section on an exam for my wardrobe. My t-shirts that may or may not have a few stains or bleach spots on them are for around the house, daytime wear. My tees that have minimal stainage can be used for trips to the grocery store. My tees that are less than two years old fall into the category of coffee-out-and-about-wear. I have my creepy, grass-stained clogs for mowing the lawn, always a good look with my everyday capris. My sandals with a tiny bit of bling are saved for summer weddings and funerals. My birkenstocks that pre-date current trendiness are for the garden. And my fleece jackets are classified according to how pilly the fabric is, fewest pills make the cut for the public scene. 

Clearly, matching jammies are not on my radar. Pajamas are for the end of the day, ready for bedtime. Matching clothing for me will have to happen, well, never. Cheers to those of you who enjoy the jammy camaraderie. Forgive me if I order a new turtleneck instead.  

A Kiss

Many locales around the world are no strangers to maniacal weather changes and my location in the upper plains is no exception to such fluctuations. A couple of weeks ago, our neighborhood was abuzz with the sound of roaring snowblowers and scraping shovels as we dug ourselves out of our first official significant snowfall of the season. The snowfall was followed by a week of frigid temperatures setting record lows for high temperatures of the day. The sun took a break and hid behind the clouds, creating gloomy days. Our low temperatures sealed the deal on anything vegetal left in my garden. I had rose-colored glasses and hoped a few treasures would defy biology and hang on a bit longer. Silly me. 

Fortunately, the weather made another big shift this past week and kissed us with near record setting high temperatures for this time of year. The sun made an appearance in all its glory and the winds dialed back from turbulent to mild. Windows were flung open for a few days. Furnaces rested a bit before the siege of winter arrives in full force. Folks took their daily walks unencumbered by extra layers of clothing. Neighbors were outdoors tackling a few more tasks.  

As for me, outdoor tasks are always best taken in small doses but I felt a strange sense of urgency to finish a couple of things before the doors of winter slammed shut. I wanted to give a few of my windows a little cleaning, emphasis on the word little. Long ago I gave up on sparkly, squeaky clean windows. I've tried vinegar concoctions, newspapers, squeegees, expensive products, cheap products, specialty cloths and the results seem to be about the same. Lowering my standards has worked best for me and the price is right.  

My grill was also in need of a good scrubbing before it was put to bed. We have a small grill but the task always overwhelms me as I tackle the greasy goo that seems to build up despite my efforts to scrape it down between grilling events. I have no magic bullet for that cleaning task despite watching many youtube videos on "making the task easier." I have the best luck with the method that works for oil-slicked ducks, use good old-fashioned Dawn dish soap. A fair bit of elbow grease is also needed and once again, lowering my standards has been helpful. My conundrum was the desire to use my grill in the nice weather but not wanting to dirty it up again. The siren song of grilled food won out and I will have to put up with a little extra grease in the spring,

The final task was washing my vehicle. Yes, it is much easier to run it through a car wash but I told myself that when I retired, I would take on this task, at least occasionally. Truth to be told, I am afraid of car washes that require me to drive onto specified tracks. I have trouble with backing out of my driveway without incident so I tend to avoid other challenges if possible, especially in public. My husband had packed up most of the hoses and spray thingies so it took a little extra work to set up the process. But, the deed is done and considering how little I am driving these days, I should be good to go for a fair amount of time.

Not surprisingly, the weather is predicted to swing back to cold and the possibility of snow. It was good to have a little smooch of sweet weather before we dust off the parkas and mittens again.