1 Mother 2 Another

It’s a tradition in our family that
once during every stay-at-home vacation – spring break,
Thanksgiving break, what have you – we declare a Pajama Day
in the house. We have a fantastic time being housebound, and the
girls now look forward to it as one of the highlights of each
Staycation. So far, we’ve done it probably three times, and
each time the anticipation mounts the night before; for girls who
love to get out so much, Cora and Maddie certainly do adore their
stay-at-home days.


And this one? Totally rocked it.

We had Pajama Day on our Staycation
poster, so of course the girls knew it was coming up. I’d
scheduled it not too long after a sleepover, when I thought the
girls could use a bit of cocooning, and as they went to bed the
night before they were giggling and whispering and debating
heartily over what pajamas to wear to bed, since they’d be in
them for so long. “I’ll never be able to get to sleep
– I’m too excited!” Maddie wailed as I left her
room.


I’d warned the girls they weren’t allowed to come
downstairs after bedtime that night, so I’m sure the whole
thing had an air of the-night-before-Christmas about it. But I
wanted to set up a few surprises, so I needed my privacy to get it
done.


And I say, with no false modesty, that I outdid myself.


The girls have a huge collection of Thomas-the-train toys, and
though we passed the train table on to someone who could use it
about six months ago, I kept the trains all stored up in a trunk in
the garage. As soon as the girls were in bed, my husband grabbed
the trunk and a big slab of plywood and set up a magical Sodor
scene on the floor of our library. By the way he was complacently
putting track pieces together, I’m guessing the girls
weren’t the only people in this house to miss the train set.


But I digress.


As Brian worked on the island of Sodor, I set up our movie-watching
station. I moved the coffee table to the side, threw down our
waterproof picnic blanket, and then layered three more blankets on
top of that for extra cushiness. All the floor pillows from the
library came in, and we set up a row of reclining spaces along the
bottom of the couch, pillows strewn everywhere for neck and hiney
comfort. Finally, I placed a low table at either side of the
“lounging area”; the girls seldom get to eat in the
living room and think that lying on the floor pillows, watching a
movie, and snacking on cheese crackers is high living indeed.


For my final set-up of the night, I threw down our drop cloths,
covered the kitchen counters with butcher paper, and brought in our
art supplies. The easel was set up with paint brushes and palettes,
and I had a craft or two set aside to get them going if need be.


Then I went to bed, knowing they’d be up early.


Maddie was the first one up, and she went straight to her favorite
pastime – reading. She and I happily lay on the couch
together, each reading her own book, for over half an hour before
Maddie discovered the train set-up. Then it was all aboard for the
island of Sodor, my friends.


The day just kept getting better, and I still can’t believe
how much awesomeness one day held. We watched a movie in the
morning; we read books together; we painted stained-glass designs;
we did puzzles; we made cookie dough and ate almost ALL of it while
watching our second movie – the list is endless.


Even in their pjs the girls couldn’t resist going outside,
and so they played in the back yard for a bit, thoroughly tickled
to be out in their night clothes. The whole family got involved in
a game of baseball, laughing and screaming together as bases were
run – in pajamas.


The food for the day was, um, relaxed; I bought yogurt tubes AT THE
STORE (organic, I’m not completely crazy) for lunch, and for
dinner we ate macaroni and cheese FROM THE BOX (Annie’s
organic – ditto!). Add to that the cookie dough and the girls
thought they’d died and gone to junk food heaven.


As for me, I got a few little chores done here and there during
some down time, but by and large I soaked up my girls. I’m
telling you, Pajama Day rocks it.


Look out, summer vacation.