Holiday Pajamas for Everyone

This post is sponsored by Carter’s; however, all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Yesterday was the first really chilly day we’ve had (the warm weather has lasted FOREVER this year).

Star was playing in the backyard and came in with a red nose and cheeks and icy little hands.

Our house was warm and the Christmas tree was twinkling in the corner and dinner was cooking in the slow cooker, making the whole house smell cozy and welcoming.

I’m not really a fan of the cold and have avoided it most of my life by living in Las Vegas, Texas, and Arizona, but even in those warm places, the temperature drops during the winter, enough that you wouldn’t want to be outside or under-dressed, and I always find myself thinking about families that don’t have somewhere warm to go or cozy pajamas to snuggle up in and drift off to sleep under a comfortable blanket.

Later, after dinner and baths, all the girls got into their pajamas and as I rocked the baby in her quiet dark room while the other girls brushed their teeth and got ready for me to read aloud to them, I thought about all the millions of children in the U.S. who aren’t getting a new pair of Christmas pajamas this year.

So many children in our country have never owned a pair of pajamas at ALL, let alone been read a bedtime story or tucked into a soft bed at night.

I love seeing my girls in cozy little jammies, and I love getting into my pajamas as early as is socially acceptable, so it breaks my heart to think of families who don’t have any of that.

A few weeks ago, I heard about the Pajama Program and Carter’s holiday pajamas collaboration for the first time.

For the seventh year in a row, they are teaming up to help provide pajamas for babies and children all across the U.S. In all their stores, Carter’s is accepting new pajama donations or monetary donations at checkout in store and online until the end of the year, with all donations going directly to your local community.

Plus, Carter’s is matching every donation up to 100,000 pairs of pajamas.

A few days later, Ella and I visited our local’s Carter’s and donated a big stack of pajamas.

I’ve been reading up about why pajamas and bedtime stories are such an essential part of children’s development and the information from the Pajama Program just about breaks your heart in half.

These children don’t get the bonding with parents that they need, and they arrive at shelters with virtually nothing of their own.

By the age of three, they’ve experienced some 30,000,000 (yes, that many zeros!) less words than their peers, and their reading and language development suffers accordingly.

We might not be able to solve all the problems in the world this holiday season, but it’s so easy to buy an extra pair or two of holiday pajamas and donate them at Carter’s and give the gift of a good night’s sleep to a child who really needs it (you can find your closest store here).

My girls love picking out their own pajamas and are always super excited about their Christmas pajamas, and having them each choose a pair to donate to a child their age was such an easy tangible way for them to understand helping someone else.

Because every child deserves to go to bed in clean, warm pajamas.

Photos by Christie Knight Photography