Title: Matching Pajamas

General Information about Item:

• Material and Customary Lore
• Language: English
• Country of Origin: United States
• Informant: Audrey Giblin
• Date Collected: 12-24-2000

Informant Data:

• The informants name is Audrey. Audrey is a 21 year old college student from Monmouth Beach, New Jersey. She is currently a junior at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Her family celebrates Christmas.

Contextual Data:

• Audrey’s family celebrates Christmas in a casual manner. They often go to Florida or some place warm where her immediate family can relax on the beach. Ever since she was little her family would wear matching pajamas to bed on Christmas Eve while they made cookies for “Santa.” The cookies and pajama tradition still carry on today. While they travel frequently, they will always bring their matching stockings and pajamas with them.

Item:

• The Matching pajama tradition and stocking tradition is very important to her family. They travel frequently for Christmas so the pajamas and stockings help make each Christmas feel somewhat constant and reliable. While the rest of their Christmas celebration is very laid back, these are staples of their celebration that remind the family of the holiday.

Transcript:

• “The stockings are really important. Christmas wouldn’t be the same without them because we have used them since I was really young”

Informant’s Comments:

• “My family really values our friendships and family unit so the time we spend together is important. All the matching activities reinforce how close we are.”

Collector’s Comments:

• Making cookies seems to have derived from the superstition or belief that Santa was real and the children wouldn’t get good presents unless they left out cookies for Santa. This superstition has become a tradition.

Collector’s Name: Emma White

Tags/Keywords:

• pajamas, stocking, tradition, travel