Pajamas

It's chilly here tonight, and it makes me want to buy pajamas, just like every year. I don't wear pajamas, but when the weather gets cool, I suddenly want some. I don't want the last ones I bought, of course, but some new ones - fleecy, cozy, comfy, soft, cuddly pajamas. Maybe with snowflakes or some other motif that's much more appealing in the abstract than it is in reality.

I have this recurring fantasy about padding around my house in these perfect pajamas, complete with the matching slippers, looking as cute as the models, drinking tea in the early morning hours while I lounge in the sun porch, thoughtfully watching the world go by - toasty warm, snuggled under a down comforter that's making me just a tad too warm with those jammies. It's a fantasy. Bringing this fantasy into reality requires more than just whipping out my debit card to get some cute new pajamas.

1. I'd have to put them on when I got up in the morning and why would I do that instead of just putting on whatever I'm going to wear? Much like Martha Stewart, I'm into the idea of just getting ready to meet the day once you're out of bed. I put my robe on when I get out of the shower - it's like a big terry cloth towel - and once I'm dry I get dressed. I'm just not a run around in my robe/pajamas all day kind of gal.

2. I don't "lounge." Maybe once a year when we get a big snow I sit in the sun porch with a cup of tea and watch the snow fall. But, you can do that for - what? - 10 minutes, maybe? I just don't lounge. It's boring. What do you do while you're lounging? I get the idea of letting your mind wander, but my mind does that while I'm engaged in something productive. I can't just sit there for very long before the urge to get up and do something strikes.

3. No doubt, as soon as I got the pajamas on and the tea made and was ready to lounge I'd realize I needed to go outside for something. Can you go outside in your pajamas? I don't know the answer to this. I grew up in the country - we could have run around in our birthday suits and no one would have seen us. But this is the city - a street goes by my house. A street other people drive on. Regularly. I don't know the rules on this. But, it seems kind of weird to be trotting around in your pajamas and robe outside. Plus, it's no doubt going to be frigid outside when this snow-filled fantasy takes place, and I'm not dressed for the weather in pajamas. So, now on top of everything else, I'm essentially a prisoner in my own home. Of course, I'm quite happy to stay in my home for days, but once I *have* to, it's a whole different thing.

4. I won't even bother to go into the whole deal about looking as cute as the models. Why distress myself?

But, still, those pajamas... they feel so nice... I can just imagine how wonderful it's going to be to be enveloped in that cuddly stuff. Just looking at them makes me feel cozy - imagine what the real thing would do.

Of course, what I should buy are some men's long underwear if I really want to stay warm. Why are men's long underwear meant to keep you warm and women's are meant to look cute? Can't we have cute and warm? Of course, if I spent this much time worrying about how cute my outerwear was I'd be much better dressed than I am on the average day.

Maybe the cute and warm thing goes to the heart of the pajama question. It's all part of the same package.

No doubt when the weather gets really cold I'll be sleeping in the same patched 15 year old sweatshirt I sleep in every year. That's how you keep pajamas cute for that special day when I want to lounge with a cup of tea.