Holiday Memories… the Better Ones
Let’s face it: we’ve all had our share of crappy holiday experiences whether it was a trip to the ER for a lung infection (2004), a valet crashing your car into a wall at a parking garage in NYC (2001), food poisoning (2007), bronchitis (2002), or just a bad attitude (um, ever since pueberty???). More than one holiday has been ruined and while I could share those with you (as you can see there have been a few), I’ve decide that I’d rather focus on the joy of the season and revisit some of my fonder memories.
Today’s topic will be Footie Pajamas and anyone born before 1980 will know what I’m talking about. This was your parents’ way of turning you into their very own Muppet, complete with fur and snaps. If you lived in New England and had the tendency to either fall out of bed (I only did that a couple of times) or kick off all your covers, footie pajamas rocked because they kept you freezing during the night.
However, should you need to go to the bathroom at say 2 am and your chubby tired fingers weren’t quite nimble… there might be a problem. You had to unsnap the neck and then unzip the entire thing, practically undressing yourself just to pee. It was quite the process but I’m pretty sure I loved mine.
The first pair of footie PJs I could find actually make me look as though I don’t have any feet at all. Maybe I was zipped up in a blanket… with tape wrapped around my head? Did my sister try to wrap me and give me back to Santa?
This particular pair doesn’t look all that warm but at least it matches, which isn’t something I can brag too much about from my style in the 70s.
Not only was the above PJ not warm, apparently it wasn’t too durable as I found myself quickly in a different set of footies. Great. I look like Cookie Monster except in drag because I’m wearing my grandma’s shoes.
Then came the pink pair. I think I was about 3 upon first receiving and apparently wore them every winter until the knees shredded (I’m hoping this happened before I turned 12).
So that’s happy holiday memory number one. While I no longer have a need for footie pajamas, I sure do miss them and not only did I smile but I actually gasped and wheezed with laughter going through all the photos of me wearing the many varieties. It was a good memory day.
Ah the footies…you can still get them, but you’ll only find sizes above 5T at Target as far as I know…They don’t have the neck snap anymore and they’re not as thick and snuggly, but they’re still better than anything else here in the freezing mid-west. BTW those were mom’s shoes…can you believe it??
Those were MOM’S shoes? Major uggos! I don’t care who was on the best dressed list back then… the 70s were bad for everyone.
I bought my wife some of those, found them at JCPenny’s.
As a boy, I don’t remember peeing being as much of a challenge as you describe.
As an adult, having your wife in a pair of those lets you know that you are definitely in for a night of sleeping.
Boys have always had an easier time in the peeing department, jammies or not. And your wife is awesome!
How come I never knew what an ADORABLE little girl you were???
BLUSH. Sadly, that all went away as soon as pueberty struck. I promise that my hair didn’t always look like that. My mother was a HUGE believer in doing fantastical things with my massively long hair… these are just early morning Christmas pix and really… who looks good on Christmas?
LOVE the footies! I had a favorite pair, they were red, and when I got too tall for them my mom cut the feet off so I could still wear them. I guess that defeats the footie purpose, but I still got to love their warm fuzziness. I would LOVE a pair of footies today…as long as they had the trapdoor in the butt.
70s kids rock!!!!
Your mom cut the feet OFF? Oh now that is priceless! I never understood the trapdoor but, though. Those always weirded me out.
Again… I agree with Natalie. I love that last picture of you. And I had footie pajamas at 11 (blue and white striped)… and wore them to my first junior high slumber party. I loved ‘em… but probably should’ve rethought the fashion statement I was (uh, wasn’t) making.
I loved those PJs! My mom always made these flannel dress pajamas and I remember them all getting wrapped around me. So I loved when I finally got a pair. I do remember the bathroom part too. I also had a jumpsuit for school that had that long zipper and let’s just say my sister and I wore our jumpsuits the same day and both came early for the same reason. I remember holding my school papers in front and back of me walking out the school doors. Ha.
Awesome! How fabulous is that? Did the two of you ever wear the jumpsuits again?
Oh my freaking goodness, those are cute!!
I fit in the pre-1980 category, and I most definitely had footie jammies. Love live footie jammies! A woman in my neighborhood wore footie jammies for her Halloween costume…I wanted to rip them off of her and have them for my very own. Thankfully, I refrained.
Well, according to Bluesuit you can purchase an adult pair at Target. Then you wouldn’t have to accost your neighbor.
Does the Imp have a pair?
The thing I remember most about my old footie PJs was that I could move my legs under the covers in the wintertime and have my own private fireworks show.
HOLY CRAP at the static electricity those things could generate!
I have no doubt that I shocked myself on many occasions (usually shuffling across the carpet and then touching a light switch) but I didn’t know anything about what you describe. Man… I totally missed out!
Ah the footies! I think Robert got his adult pair at Target and I saw a link online where you could purchase adult pairs. I’ll have to look into that more. The knees on the pink ones didn’t shred when you had them b/c they weren’t shredded when I had them after you.
I must’ve had another pair because there are pictures of your first Christmas and I was wearing pink footie PJs sans the knees. That was the year I got the hobby horse and you got that plastic snowman thingy.
One of the advantages of being (koff! koff!) years old … by the time footie pyjamas had been invented, you were too old for them!
Oh, I’m pretty sure they’ve had footie PJs since Napoleon’s time. You definitely weren’t too old to have a pair.
I certainly remember mine. I had yellow and red ones. They seemed to soak up every sniffle as gross as that may have been. The 70s was the “decade of the damned” as far as clothes went; as evident in my recent facebook photo upload. I think that Lands End has something similar but your feet have a fleece bag/pouch to fit into.
Finally… someone agrees that while the 70s may have been care free and full of good memories, the fashions were simply horrifying. Footie PJs kept you warm and, as you pointed out, also doubled as a tissue. Eww. I never really thought of that.
It’s true, the footies did make us look like Muppets.
My mom had finally stopped dressing me in footies when she woke up to me crying in the bathroom because I had to pee so badly and the zipper got stuck.
Ha ha ha! I might’ve had an accident or two myself due to a faulty zipper and fat, tired fingers. In fact, I’m positive I had an accident or two.