The Pajama Fairy

Fifi is screaming, "THE PAJAMA FAIRY WAS HERE!!!!" She's running down the stairs screaming to everyone, "GO CHECK YOUR BED!" Jaguar is wide-eyed, open-mouthed, leaning out of his bedroom door, excitedly telling me, "Majaba Bairy!" Lolly is squealing.

I began telling the story of Penelope the Pajama Fairy for about six years now. I came up with the idea after hearing a radio program about unique family Christmas traditions. One woman said when she was a child, her mother would clean all the sheets and make all the beds and give every child a new pair of pajamas on Christmas Eve, to wake up on Christmas morning with a clean start. My wee girls were super into fairies at the time, and thus the Pajama Fairy was born.

Every year, at some point on Christmas Eve when the kids are out, Penelope, the fallen tooth fairy, stops by with clean sheets (sometimes they are even brand new) and a new pair of pajamas for everyone to wear on Christmas Eve night. She makes the beds and lays the new pjs out for the kids to discover when they get home.

In the McFarlane house, the Pajama Fairy is a big deal. She might even be a bigger deal than Santa.

Fifi has been begging me to write the story down for a couple of years now. So this year, I did. Maybe one day I'll find an illustrator and eventually put the story in print.  It's still in draft form, but for now, enjoy a little McFarlane family tradition and feel free to adopt it and make it your own!

Everyone yell, "PAJAMA FAIRY!"

The Pajama Fairy

***

Penelope is sad.

She is a sad fairy.

Penelope is a tooth fairy. Or was.

She is sad, because she is not a tooth fairy anymore.

The thing is, she was not very good at being a tooth fairy.

For one, she was always getting lost. 

One time the address on the Tooth Pick-Up List said 201 North Walnut Street.
Penelope got mixed up and went to 201 South Walnut Street.

Instead of collecting Jonah Rodriguez’s bottom front incisor, she returned to Toothtown, Fairyopia with grumpy old Mr Pollock’s false teeth that were soaking in a jar next to his bed. She thought she’d won the jackpot with all those teeth!

Luckily for Jonah, his grandma discovered the tooth still under his pillow the next morning and replaced it with a coin of her own. She was unhappy with the tooth fairy though.

Unluckily for Penelope, the Toothtown’s legal council, Molar, Molar & Smith, had to settle the case in court when Mr Pollock sued over his “stolen” teeth.

Another thing is she was always running late.

Once she was a whole day late. Eden Martin woke up the next morning expecting a coin under her pillow and found her tooth still there. She cried all day and stopped believing in tooth fairies at once.

Penelope got in BIG trouble for that one.

Finally, she is always counting money wrong.

The worst time was when Penelope accidentally gave Elizabeth McDonald two coins and had no money left for Ollie Baker.
She left Ollie an acorn instead with a note explaining the mix up. Ollie decided tooth fairies were not worth the trouble and told his whole kindergarten class to stop leaving  teeth under pillows. That unbalanced the entire National Tooth & Trust’s fiscal year budget.

And this is why the Board of Directors finally fired Penelope.

And this is why Penelope is sad.

You see, the reason Penelope is always getting lost and running late and losing money is because Penelope’s true calling is not collecting teeth.  Penelope’s real talent is fashion design. Pajama fashion, to be exact.

When Penelope should be checking the daily Lost Tooth Alert System  for collection assignments

or studying the maps of neighborhoods (to make sure she stops at the RIGHT houses)

or learning how to count out the correct value of coins per tooth in math class

Penelope is doodling frilly nightgowns or practicing new stitches or calculating how many yards of fabric it takes to make a pajama set.  Despite her mistakes in counting coins, she is very good at counting inches and centimeters.

Penelope was not a good tooth fairy.

But she is good at other things.

It’s also worth noting that Penelope is not sad because she got fired.

Penelope is sad, because she loves the children.  Penelope has a good heart.

When she thinks of Eden and Jonah and Ollie and Elizabeth, a tear slips down her cheek. She will never see them again.

Or will she?

Penelope has an idea!

Penelope quickly starts to sew.
She knows that Eden loves spaceships, and Ollie loves cats.
She knows Jonah’s favorite color is purple, and Elizabeth likes polka dots.

She knows which children like fleece and which ones like satin. 

She knows who prefers nightgowns, and who likes pajamas with feet.

Lovingly, Penelope designs and sews each of the children a very special, unique pair of pajamas.

It takes her all year to get everything just right.

Finally, it is Christmas Eve.  Penelope is ready. She gets special permission from the Fairy Transport Office to view the neighborhood maps again. She wants to make sure she goes to all the right houses.

While Eden is shopping with her mother for last minute gifts, Penelope slips through the window to deliver the spaceship nightgown.

While Jonah is having Christmas Eve lunch with his grandma, Penelope lays a new pair of purple fleece pajamas on his bed. (She even made the bed for him.)

While Ollie is driving around looking at Christmas lights with his family, Penelope drapes the cat footsie pajamas over his desk chair.

While Elizabeth is in the kitchen peeling potatoes with her dad, Penelope folds the polka-dotted satin pajamas on top of the laundry pile.

With each pair of pajamas, Penelope also leaves a note apologizing for all the tooth mistakes of the past.

Penelope flies back to Toothtown, Fairyopia, and waits.

The children are all so surprised! They each read the notes as they put on their new pajamas.

Penelope’s heart beats fast and a smile spreads across her face as

Eden starts believing in fairies again.

Jonah’s grandma forgives the tooth fairy.

Elizabeth placed her extra coin under her pillow with a note that said “RETERN TO SENDER”.

Ollie promises to tell all the kids in his class to trust tooth fairies again AND to start believing in “Pajama Fairies” too.

Now Penelope has children all over the world who believe in her.
She spends all year making pajamas and delivers each pair on Christmas Eve.

Penelope has found her true calling.

Penelope is happy!
She is a happy fairy!

Penelope is not a tooth fairy anymore, but this is okay.
Penelope is now who she was always meant to be.

A pajama fairy!

The Truth Fairy

We've never really done the Santa thing on the kids; we let them sort of believe in him during the Christmas season, but I've always been clear during the year that he was pretend (much to Scott's chagrin). The same with the Easter Bunny and Banoffee Pie, our Elf on the Shelf.

But the tooth fairy, she was kind of different. She and the pajama fairy and all other fairies seemed to be treated with more respect, more believability.  When the kids asked if fairies were real, instead of giving them the brutally honest "No, but it's fun to pretend!" line I gave when asked about Santa, I tended to give more vague - though not quite dishonest - answers. "What do you think?" or "Hmm, I don't know..."

So the tooth fairy kind of stuck.

Our tooth fairy leaves a little tiny note on special stationery (kept tucked out of sight in my underwear drawer) with every tooth. She tells the child what the fairies plan to do with her tooth; seems Fairy Land is always in the middle of some major renovation project - a new Fairy Town Hall, the fairymentary school, the fairiatrics wing of the hospital, a fairy brick road.

Fifi has lost all the baby teeth she will lose for a while, but Lolly has been not-so-patiently waiting for her first one to come out. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, it got wobbly. We all got very excited for her, and Fifi exclaimed, "You'll get a visit from the tooth fairy! You'll get a dollar!" We all cheered.

"But you know," Lolly began, with a sly grin on her face. "The tooth fairy isn't really real."

I slyly grinned back. "Oh really?"

She shook her head, then considered for a moment.

"Since I know the tooth fairy isn't real, can I get TWO dollars?"

I'm not sure if she's cut out for business or politics. Or both.

Well, since then, she's been wiggling it constantly. Then today, after school, I gave it a little push to see how close to ready it was, and out the little toothie came!

Regardless of whether she believes in the tooth fairy or not, she is still getting a little tiny note on special stationery in place of her little tooth which we've set up in front of her fairy door (because a tooth under a pillow is just asking for a lost tooth and a woken child), but instead of a coin or a dollar bill....

She's getting a check.

"The tooth fairy" doesn't have any cash on her.

Pennies for scale
(Click here to zoom)

I'm pretty sure a withdrawal slip, a simple explanatory note and my bank card tucked into the capsule along with Lolly's check at the drive-through lane of the bank will be sufficient for clearing this check.  She will, of course, still need to endorse the back.

Christmas Eve Traditions - The Pyjama Fairy

When we were kids, I'm pretty sure our Christmas Eve traditions were pretty fluid. I remember doing some things some years and other things other years. It sound like, from talking to other people, this is pretty normal. No one really knows what to do on Christmas Eve!

Most years we went to a Candlelight Christmas Eve service at church. These were my favourite. All the lights in a big sanctuary turned off, one candle lighting the next candle 'til the room glowed a heavenly orange. Singing 'Silent Night' and 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful', in what sounded to me like a beautiful choir's voice. Nothing made us feel more Christmasy!

We'd then go home after church and some years we'd be allowed to open all the gifts in our stockings, other year's we'd get to choose one gift to open. We never did the Santa thing so the gifts would have been under the tree for what felt like a millennia, just waiting to be opened. The stockings would have been hanging from the fireplace fat with surprises, just taunting us with their secrets. Each gift by this point had already been shaken, held up to the light, and possibly even had a bit of tape pulled away in hopes of revealing some clue as to its contents. Opening one gift on Christmas Eve made for a very difficult choice... which of those gifts was alluding us the most? We certainly didn't want to open the wrong one and get a pair of socks for Christmas Eve.

As we got older, Christmas Eve night became Chocolate Gravy night. For dinner, we'd make biscuits, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages and my Mamaw Mitchell's famous chocolate gravy. Chocolate gravy is basically a hot, thick homemade pudding poured over buttery biscuits. A little would ooze over onto the bacon. It was amazing. Chocolate gravy seemed to be a Christmas and Thanksgiving delight only, like pumpkin pie and stuffing, and we looked forward to it every year.

A few years later I started my own family, and we started making some traditions of our own. We continued going to Candlelight carol services, and then for the past few years, I started going to midnight mass with my dear friend Maria. That was one of my favourite traditions. It felt wonderful waiting until 11.30pm and then wrapping up warm in a coat, hat, scarf and gloves and walking down the road to St Mary's Cathedral in the unusually still and quiet Greenock night, lit only by street lights, sometimes crunching through white glittery snow, to meet Maria and enjoy a solemn hour to myself with my friend, in a big beautiful church. Of all the Christmasy things about Scotland I miss, this is the one I miss the most. In fact, we'd be going out in about an hour if I were still there. That's a little sad for me.

For a couple of years we tried the stockings thing. Since we only do Santa half-heartedly, sometimes the stockings are full before Santa comes, sometimes Santa fills them. One year we did the open-one-present thing, but living on a budget turned me off that one. It made the next day's presents look a little sparse. Plus, despite our Santa half-heartedism, the kids are pretty sure it IS Santa who brings the gifts (even though the tags say 'From Mum & Dad'), so it's a bit confusing to them, the whole presents-before-he-arrives thing.

Homemade pyjamas

Then one year I heard a radio program with callers sharing their own Christmas traditions. One woman said that each Christmas Eve, they received new pyjamas* and washed all the bed linens for Christmas. Thus the Pyjama Fairy was born in my mind.

Last year's Princess Pyjama Fairy jammies

Over the years, the Pyjama Fairy has developed a back story and a modus operandi that has become firmly traditionalized. (Not a word, don't care.) Each Christmas Eve, at some point when the kids aren't around, the Pyjama Fairy steals into the house and makes all the beds. When she's feeling up to it (and has enough time) she changes and washes all the linens too. If she's feeling particularly flush that year, she buys new linens. Then she lays out a fresh new pair of pyjamas on each bed. When she has time, she makes them by hand. When she's busy, she just buys them.

All of this disorganization fits perfectly with her personality. See, the Pyjama Fairy is a fallen tooth fairy. She used to work as a tooth fairy, but she wasn't very good at it. She was always making mistakes: forgetting to leave money, forgetting to bring back the tooth, losing teeth along the way, losing money along the way, missing houses entirely. Eventually she was fired and banished from tooth fairy land. But she missed all the children she once visited. Despite being a terrible tooth fairy, she was actually a very good seamstress. She began sewing pyjamas to make a living. At first she just retailed to other tooth fairies, but one Christmas she had an idea. She could make pyjamas for all those kids she used to visit. She spent the whole of the next year designing huge set of pyjamas for the children on her old watch, and on Christmas Eve she delivered them, often making their beds for them because they were usually such a mess. (She was surprisingly fastidious for a scatterbrained fairy.) Word got out about her pyjama deliveries and parents all over began requesting her services. Before she knew it, she had a huge business to run. She had to stop making all the pyjamas and started buying them in wholesale. But for those first few special children, she still sometimes takes the time to lovingly hand sew a custom set of jammies.

Pyjama Fairy forgot Mummy last year.

Today is Christmas Eve, time for all these fun traditions again. Scott took the kids out for an ice cream so the Pyjama Fairy could do her work. She washed all the linens and made all the beds.  She even left a little gift for cousin Ava (she couldn't find Ava's house).  Later on tonight we will be going to the Candlelight Carol Service at church at 7pm with my mom and step-dad. Chocolate gravy turned into a Christmas morning tradition at some point while I was living in Scotland, so we'll be gathering tomorrow, me and my brothers' families, for breakfast tomorrow.

Jaguar's TMNT jammies

Cousin Ava's jammies with a note.
Stole the spelling/letter errors idea from my step-sis Christy's elf.

Lolly & Fifi's jammies:
Strawberry Shortcake and La La Loopsy

She didn't forget Mum this year.
SuperGirl and Homer Simpson

*Up until today I have always spelled 'pyjamas' as 'pajamas'. I'm a little beside myself that I've been spelling it wrong my whole life. Plus, the actual spelling looks too much like 'pygmy'.

Easter Fairy Picnic

It's always sweet relief when your children play well together.

We've just started the Easter holidays - two weeks off of school - and this morning was a lovely start. It was my lie-in morning (Scott got yesterday's as I was working), and what a lovely feeling to wake up peacefully - not to the sounds of fighting kids.

I woke up and went to the kitchen to make myself some steak slice and potato scone for breakfast (mmm). The girls had cleaned their room according to Daddy's instruction (Fifi is actually very good at room cleaning... Lolly not so much), and then had set out a blanket for a 'picnic'. They had a few toy food items out and came through the kitchen for a bit of toast.

I will be honest here and say mornings are not my best times, and often I'm not very patient. But the kids' wonderful morning behaviour had me in a great mood. I looked at my beautiful daughters (who had dressed themselves up for the occasion) and asked if they'd like a real fairy picnic.




I got down their very special ceramic tea set that I keep out of reach so it doesn't get broken and brought the pieces to the kitchen. The girls stayed in their room to not spoil the surprise. I made them toast with their own little butters, filled the tea pots with juice and the sugar bowls with chocolate-covered raisin mini eggs and jelly babies, and arranged two Aulds cakes on mini plates.


They were so sweet! The girls have been having a great time in their room playing Fairy Tea Party. And I had a great time eating my breakfast in peace.

Afternoon plans - paint Easter eggs! (My attempt at dyeing Easter eggs earlier this week was an utter fail.)

A Review in Photos

Lolly has a pretty little birthmark on her right cheek. We've called this a few different things - a beauty spot, a fairy kiss, a Jesus kiss, a cutie mark.

Today Lolly casually told me, while clambering all over me, doing somersaults all over the sofa, that 'Jesus came out of my heart, and then Jesus kissed my cheek, and then Jesus went back into my heart.'

*****

We have a bit of a mustache obsession around here these days, since Scott grew a mustache for Movember. I love my mustache chocolate lollipop mould, but my favourite is Jaguar's mustache dummy.

*****

I spent the day today on my Simplicity mission, clearing out my bedroom. I cleared out three bags for the charity shop and one bag of rubbish. On top of that I cleared out a massive pile of things to stick on eBay, like the above baby socks. I have listed 18 23 items on eBay so far, but one thing that I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of, not yet, was this beautiful snowsuit of Lolly's. I'm just not ready yet.

*****

Tummy Tub bath followed by a baby massage... these will be some of my fondest memories of Jaguar's babyhood. Tonight we used Burt's Bees baby oil instead of the usual plain almond oil. My hands smell wonderful.

*****

I may not get much sleep when all the children climb into bed with me in the morning, but I do love those sleepy, beautiful faces.

Magic Moments

About five and a half years ago, we were up all night with a fussy baby, waiting for that first tooth to come through.

Today, that first tooth came out.

I had other things I could have written about today, but this trumps it all. I'm so thankful for my sweet daughter and moments like these. The sheer delight and thrill on the girls faces when Daddy 'thought he heard bells jingling', and Fifi discovered her fairy letter and coin, and Lolly backed up Daddy's story by claiming to have 'heard the magic' too, is something I hope I never forget.