10 Christmas Traditions to Celebrate in Your Pajamas

For me fun family Christmas memories and pajamas go hand in hand. There is nothing like snuggling up together in pajamas by the Christmas tree or on the bed, and spending quality family time together. My kids get more excited about their pajamas than any other clothes they own, and look forward to picking them out and putting them on at night. Since my kids are still pretty young (Benjamin is 4, Lyla just turned 3, and our little boy is due in March), we are still making new traditions each year at Christmas. So this year, I shopped online at Sears to get some special new pajamas to be a part of our new holiday traditions this year. I was able to use my Shop Your Way rewards account to make a fun catalog of my favorite pajamas, as well as to earn rewards and save money on my purchases.

I especially love the traditional flannel button down pajamas at Christmas. For Benjamin, I picked out green pajamas with footballs and baseballs all over it. I like that they look like Christmas pajamas, but he can wear them all year long. Lyla's pajamas are my very favorite! Foxes are certainly a 2013 fashion trend, and these cute wintery fox pajamas are adorable. I love that they are a little bit girly without being all pink. And of course, Lyla loves them almost as much as I do.

10 Christmas Traditions to Celebrate in Your Pajamas

1. Make a Christmas book advent calendar. We love reading books as a family, and this year is the first time that we've attempted this tradition. It's such a fun idea for kids of all ages. Simply wrap up 24 books and number them from 1 - 24. You can wrap up mostly books you already own, and throw in a few new ones each year as your kids grow. Each night before bed, you unwrap the book for that day of December and read it together. We started with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and save The Night Before Christmas for Christmas Eve. The kids are thrilled to open a new book each night, and we all enjoy snuggling up on the bed in our cozy pajamas to read the new book together. We also have wrapped up a lot of books that aren't explicitly Christmas, but that fit in with the Christmas and winter spirit (for example: The Little Engine that Could, The Snowy Day, Polar Bear Polar Bear, and The Mitten.)

2. Have a fun Christmas Lights Photo Shoot - Christmas lights are one of the most special and magical parts of the season, and are a very fun photo prop for taking cute pictures of your kids. Not only do they give a fun glow to your pictures, but they also help create fun expressions on your kids' faces. I love the expression on my son Benjamin's face. This year when I asked him what he wanted for Christmas, the only thing he came up with was more Christmas lights. Of course be VERY careful when letting your kids play with or sit near lights.

3. Have a Family Movie Night - This is a classic that is fun for the whole family. Pop some popcorn, snuggle up in your new pajamas, and watch your favorite Christmas movies together.

4. Make a Keepsake Craft Together - There are so many fun crafts to make as a family, and doing it in your pajamas makes it even more fun. Our favorite thing we've made this year are these Clay Thumbprint Snowman Ornaments. They turned out beautifully and Benjamin and Lyla really especially enjoyed making them.

5. Record Yourselves Singing Christmas Carols - We love singing Christmas songs together, and this year, we got dressed up in our pajamas and recorded the kids singing Christmas songs (twinkle twinkle little star counts!) I even recorded myself singing with them, but for your sake I won't share that video with you, haha. Benjamin and Lyla LOVE watching themselves over and over as they sing. This is the first year we've recorded them like this, and it will be fun to have a few videos of them each year to watch together each Christmas as they grow older.



6. Drive Around and Look at Christmas Lights - Everyone loves driving around town looking at Christmas lights, but why not do it with everyone in their pajamas. This will make it even more fun and exciting, plus your kids will think it's hilarious that Mommy and Daddy wore their pajamas outside of the house.

7. Bake and Decorate Cookies - Another classic Christmas tradition that is just more fun in your pajamas!

8. Have a Christmas Scavenger Hunt - This is so much fun. Everyone gets in their pajamas and has a flashlight. Turn the lights low in your house, and hide about 10 Christmas ornaments around your house. When someone finds an ornament, they put it in their special basket. Make a list of what you are looking for, and create a fun prize for your kids to earn if they find all of the ornaments. We created this game for my kids this year as a team effort, but as they get older, it would be fun to hide even more ornaments and turn it into a big contest.

9. Look at Family Pictures and Videos - Whether you are scrolling through pictures you've uploaded to Facebook over the past few years, or browsing through scrapbooks you have made, this is a fun way to spend time together and turn an activity into a tradition. You can relive past Christmas mornings, talk about how much everyone has grown, and look forward to this year's Christmas.

10. Wrap Gifts - It's important to teach your children that Christmas is about GIVING and not just about getting. One way that we try to do this (it's really a hard thing to do!) is to talk to them about how fun it is to give gifts, and to let them be a part of picking out gifts and wrapping them as much as possible. Snuggling up in your pajamas and letting your kids help decorate and wrap is a great way to do this. As you wrap the presents you can talk about how much you love the person who the gift is for, and talk about how happy it will make them when they open it.

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What are some of your favorite Christmas PJ traditions?