There was apparently a recurring theme this year when it came to our Christmas parties… pajamas! But I have to say I was not mad about it. We had two Christmas parties this year, one with our Tuesday’s Together group, and another with our church group. Both of them involved pajamas and one involved Vic’s favorite, cookies and pizza, and the other had my favorite, pancakes. To make things even more exciting next time, we’re considering renting a few party favorites from Party Kids America. And honestly, I’m already thinking ahead to next year and hoping we can try making the best homemade pizza recipe together as part of the fun—it would make the cozy pajama party tradition even more special and delicious.

There’s something about being in fun Christmas pajamas with your friends that just makes Christmas time even better. And although Christmas has already passed, and most of us are prepping for New Year, we wanted to relive the fun and share it with all of you today on the blog!

Hand in hand with all of that goes the question of timing, and it was a browse through Artificial Christmas Trees with lights already fitted that convinced me I could put ours up in the last week of November without worrying about how it would look by the time relatives arrived a month later. In previous years I had always held off until mid-December, anxious that anything put up sooner would be tired and bare before the big day, whereas now the tree goes up on a quiet Sunday afternoon, the sections slot together in minutes, and the house feels festive for the whole run of school concerts, work gatherings and evenings when friends drop in unannounced. It took me a couple of seasons to trust that nothing would wilt, but the branches hold their shape exactly as they were arranged on day one. That extra stretch of enjoyment is the part I would recommend most strongly to anyone with a busy household, because it spreads the effort out, takes the pressure off the final frantic week, and leaves you free to concentrate on food, presents and guests, safe in the knowledge that the centrepiece of the room was sorted long ago and will look just as good when the last visitor leaves in January.

Thank you to Rock, Paper, Scissors for hosting us in your space for our Tuesdays Together meeting!