Christmas Day routines are sacred and completely individual to every family.
Some get dressed up and go out for a fancy lunch, others pound the pavements for a morning run, and some stay in their pyjamas all day long.
Presents in your PJs. Dinner in your PJs. Christmas movies in your PJs. Getting drunk on Baileys in your PJs.
For some – this may sound like the ultimate day of bliss. It doesn’t get more relaxing or cozy than spending a full day lounging in your comfy sleepwear. But others are less keen.
In a post on Mumsnet, one said she thinks it’s ‘lazy’ and ‘manky’ to spend the day in your jimjams. She particularly disapproved of eating dinner in the same thing you slept in.
‘Am I being unreasonable to think it’s a bit manky to spend Xmas Day in your pyjamas?’ she asked in the online post.
‘Are these new PJs from Christmas Eve box that you’ve slept in all night or do you shower and put a fresh pair on?
‘It’s not exactly a John Lewis tableau is it? Parents and children tucking into their turkey/nut roast in their manky nightwear.
‘Have a shower and get dressed you lazy beggars!’
But is it actually ‘manky’ or unhygienic to spend the day in your pyjamas?
Ellie, 28, says that she and her two younger brothers spend the entirety of Christmas Day in their pyjamas – without fail. She says her mum usually gets dressed, but Ellie and her brothers help out with the cooking, open presents and even eat dinner in their matching festive PJs.
‘It just doesn’t feel right to wear clothes on Christmas Day. I wouldn’t want to waste time that could be spent eating chocolate or watching TV with choosing an outfit and doing my make-up and all of that.
‘For us Christmas is all about comfort and being with immediate family. It’s just the four of us – so who cares if we’re not wearing real clothes?’
Ellie says the family make an effort on Boxing Day when they visit their grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins – but the 25th is their day to do as they please.
‘It’s not about being lazy. We work hard all year, and Christmas Day is the one day where anything goes and you can do exactly what we want. And we want to be as comfortable as possible.’
But, comfort aside, hygiene might be one reason to change out of your PJs on Christmas Day.
Pyjamas can be a breeding ground for bacteria and all kinds of other nasty things that our bodies produce while we’re sleeping in them for seven hours or more.
And the experts think most of us should be washing our pyjamas and changing into fresh ones much more frequently than we actually do.
‘Technically your pyjama bottoms are the same as your underwear so you may want to consider washing them daily,’ hygeine expert Dr Lisa Ackerley told Metro.co.uk.
‘However if you shower or bathe before bed, your pyjamas won’t get as dirty so quickly so every few days would be fine.
‘If you are ill and have a fever then you would probably want to change them daily.
‘If you lounge around pyjamas round the house all day then they would need washing daily as per underwear.’
So, this suggests that if you’re wearing new pyjamas on Christmas morning, or if you showered on Christmas Eve and put new PJs on that night – wearing them on Christmas Day isn’t too bad.
But, you probably don’t want to wear PJs that you’ve already been sleeping in for a few days – because they will likely be pretty gross at this point.
People replying to the original Mumsnet post were really not happy with the idea that Christmas Day pyjamas were ‘manky’.
‘I wasn’t going to spend this Christmas in PJs but I’m tempted now. It’s comfy, hardly dirty and if you’re staying at home – why the f**k not?’ said one user.
Another asked: ‘How are they dirty. You’ve done nothing in them. Also I have been known to wear the same trousers two days in a row and I hate to think what you’d do if I told you how often I wash my bra.’
But some said they couldn’t imagine not getting changed for the entire day: ‘Each to their own but I wouldn’t,’ said someone else.
‘I get dressed up, do make up and hair then I’m ready to hit the kitchen, cooking my turkey in a party dress! Quite strange now I think about it really but I like to look nice on Christmas day.’
Let us know what you think in the poll below – are you planning a glam Christmas Day or a PJ party on the sofa?
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source https://metro.co.uk/2019/12/24/acceptable-stay-pyjamas-christmas-day-11955460/
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