A letter from a reader

I have slept in whatever was handy for forty Christmases. These are the first pajamas I have ever written a letter about.

Six things I have noticed since a Christmas train ride full of children in their pajamas, from a woman who used to get dressed in the dark so the family would not see what she slept in.

Peggy Dalton · Customer · Austin, Texas · 5 min read

You ought to know who is talking before I go any further. I am Peggy, I am 63, and I live in Austin, Texas, with my husband Frank. Last December my daughter drove the grandbabies up from Belton so they could ride the evening Christmas train out of Grapevine, the one where all the children come in their pajamas. The grown-ups are supposed to come in theirs too. That was the part I was dreading.

The pajamas I am writing about are from Iris and Nora, a small boutique here in Austin that has been quietly dressing women like us for a few years now. One set is the Honora, brick red with little cream medallions all over it. The other is the Sienna, slate blue with orange and red flowers. Both are a proper button-down shirt and long pants. When the boutique asked if they could put my letter up for other women to read, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.

I went on that train in my long winter coat buttoned to the chin, over Frank’s old sweatpants and the sleep shirt I have had since my grandson was born, and I did not take that coat off once, hot as it was in there. Across the aisle sat a woman about my age with three grandchildren piled around her and a cup of cocoa she was not getting to drink. She was in a brick red pajama set covered in little cream medallions, with a neat cream edge around the collar and a cardigan over her shoulders, and she looked like she was on her way to a nice dinner. So on the platform, while my daughter counted heads, I asked her, plainly. Her name was Glenda. She laughed and said, “Honey, I have four. I live in them from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.” I wrote the name on the back of my ticket and did not find that ticket again until I cleaned out my coat pocket this October. Read on.

Mine, the red one, at my own coffee pot. Frank took it, and I told him to leave my face out of it.

Here is what forty Christmases have taught me. Every year my daughter’s family stays with us for a week, and a woman my age has two choices about what she sleeps in. There is the nightgown, the soft old one you would not let your son-in-law see you in for any money. And there is the other way, which is what I did, getting up in the dark at six and getting fully dressed before anybody else was awake, so that nobody ever saw what I slept in. I have missed a good many Christmas mornings in my pajamas that way, and every grandchild in the house has had theirs.

I had never once owned anything to sleep in that I would let the rest of the family see me in.

The afternoon they came. Yes, there are two. I could not choose, so I did not.

I ordered both sets the same evening I found that ticket, the red one like Glenda’s and the blue flowered one, fully expecting to send at least one of them back. I have slept in one or the other every night since and had my coffee in them every morning. Going by those mornings, it comes down to six things, and I will give them to you plainly.

1

Prints that look like Christmas morning, without a single reindeer

This is what caught my eye on that train. Every Christmas pajama I have ever been given had a reindeer or a snowman or a pun on the front. The Honora is a deep brick red covered in little cream medallions, and it looks like a good holiday tablecloth, warm and a little bit fancy. The Sienna is a soft slate blue with orange and red flowers and olive leaves, and it is the one I reach for on a Sunday. They are printed all over, shirt and pants, and there are ten designs in the collection, so there is a quieter one and a brighter one for just about anybody.

The Sienna, waiting on the chair in the guest room before the family arrives.

★★★★★

My granddaughter said I looked like a Christmas card. Not one reindeer on it, and I could not be happier.

Nelda R., Colleyville

2

A proper button-down shirt, so you look dressed at the breakfast table

This is the one that changed my Christmas mornings. The shirt is a real button-down with a notch collar, the kind with the rounded collar and little lapels, five buttons down the front, and long sleeves. It looks like a shirt, not like something you slept in. The boutique says it is easy enough for sleeping and smart enough for opening the door to guests, and I have tested the second half on the delivery man and on my son-in-law, who did not look twice. When my daughter’s family came down for a weekend this month, I sat at my own breakfast table in my pajamas for the first time in years, and nobody said a word. This Christmas I intend to do it all week.

The collar on the red one. That cream edge is what I noticed first on Glenda.

★★★★★

I answered the door to the neighbors in it on Christmas Eve and did not run for my robe. That is a first for me.

Bobbie H., Keller

6

Every size from medium to 2XL, and ten designs to give

They come in every size from medium to 2XL, and every one of the ten designs is the same price. That matters to me because of what happened next. I have since put a third set away, the coral one with the little daisies, wrapped in tissue in the hall closet for my sister Sue for Christmas. Frank asked what was wrong with the two I already have. Nothing, I told him. That is the point. Glenda, for the record, has four.

Folded and ready for the gift pile, on my kitchen table.

★★★★★

I bought one for each of my daughters and one for me. We wore them all Christmas morning and nobody had to go change before the pictures.

Darla P., Roanoke

The Honora and the Sienna, against what I used to sleep in

You can keep getting dressed in the dark every Christmas morning, like I did for forty years. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.

About the price

Each set is $69.95. They were $140.00. I will be honest, when I saw that I read the whole page twice looking for the catch. I have not found one. They came with free shipping, they were the pajamas in the pictures, and one or the other has been on me every night since.

I will pass on what the boutique told me, which is that these come in small runs, and the most popular prints go first, especially this close to Christmas. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that I have paid more than $140.00 for a holiday outfit I wore twice, so $69.95 for something I wear every single night was an easy yes. Twice. Three times, counting Sue.

And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Just over three hundred of them, sitting at 4.2 stars, which sounded like real women rather than robots. The same six things I have just walked you through come up in them, over and over, in other women’s words.

If you have spent every Christmas getting dressed in the dark so the family will not see what you slept in, and you would like to have your coffee at the table in your pajamas like everybody else this year, this is where I would start. They make a lovely present too, if there is a sister or a friend on your list who has been sleeping in her husband’s old T-shirt. Take a look before the print you want sells through, because once this stock is gone, it is gone. And if you are ever on the Christmas train out of Grapevine and you see two grandmothers in matching sets, one in red and one in blue, one of them is Glenda, and the other one is me.

Peggy

THE PAJAMA SET COLLECTION

★★★★☆ 4.2 out of 5 from 300+ reviews

$140.00 $69.95

• Two-piece set, button-down shirt and long pants
• Notch collar, long sleeves and a chest pocket
• Contrast piping on the collar, cuffs and pocket
• Soft, light crinkle texture
• Elastic waist, relaxed fit, sizes M to 2XL
• 10 printed designs, free shipping

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