A Very Jammie Christmas

^{So, I need to tell you a secret. A BIG secret. Promise not to tell?}

^{I have legit always been this darn excited about Christmas. In fact, I was named "Christmas Chair" on the Overall Committee for UNC Dance Marathon. A title I will never fail.}

^{I have also been compared to this woman:}

^{Or this man…}

^{I am just going to say that I am not ashamed by either of these comparisons. I'm silly. I can take it.}

^{But that isn't the secret. Oh, no. Every kid loves Christmas. (Or Santa?)} 

^{The secret is what my family has done for years on Christmas. Our tradition.}

^{You see, every year my family travels to be with my mom's sister for Christmas (Aunt Donna and Uncle Clay and their two kids (my cousins)-- Kelly and Doug). They live in Aiken. Then Nana comes down from Durham. When I was younger, we would all just go to Nana's. This year they are all coming to our house after Christmas (I'll get to that later). Got all that?}

^{So every Christmas Eve, we all open presents. We are all spoiled rotten and eat way too many of Nana's sugar cookies and Aunt Donna's Rum Cake and then...}

^{Out comes a box for all of us. A matching box. Wrapped in the same wrapping paper and in the same size box. And we all.... well, the Dobbins girls LOVE it. The Jones Kids? ...not so much....}

^{Yep, every year all four of us (and most recently Aunt Donna, Nana, and Mama) are dressed in matching pajamas.}

^{And we proceed through a terrorizing photoshoot. You see, Dad and Uncle Clay are professional photographers. Did you know that about my family? I know, multi-faceted.}

^{And the shoot can last for what seems like hours. Especially when you have me (the ham), Heather (the how does my makeup look?), Kelly (the when do we outgrow this?) and Doug (the when will I get a male version of these jammies?).}

^{Some years we manage great, sweet pictures like the one above.}

^{Other years, we manage awkwardness and dissatisfaction.}

^{As I mentioned earlier, our traditions this year are a-changing. This year, the Dobbins family will be at home for Christmas Eve. My mom's family will be coming to Kinston instead after Christmas so they can spend time with my sister and her new family. I know, WHAT are we going to do about the pajama tradition?}

^{Great Question. I am not quite sure.}

^{Maybe we’ll start a new tradition? Now that we have Collin (the new baby of the family—I have officially been replaced). And although I do love “the Jammies”, new traditions are refreshing. I could dig new traditions.}

^{Just as long as matching braces aren’t the new tradition, I’ll be fine.}

^{More Holiday memories to come!}