It crept up on me. There were tweets and Facebook threads about where to get the matching pajamas. We’ve all seen them. And then the barrage started. Sure some shared the matching pajama photos early but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the photos were EVERYWHERE. And it seemed that the vast majority were made of flannel — a long-time favorite of mine! Guess this was the Christmas of matching flannel pajamas!

Getting a good family photo always takes a bit of work and it is so much easier if you have a limited palate of colors or patterns to work with. Christmas pajamas have been a thing for kids for decades (at least in our family). And getting the perfect photos to remember your big holiday frequently takes some planning and good timing. Well, flannel… well, how could you not love flannel? It was such a hit that my niece donned a flannel shirt over her wedding dress at her reception last fall and Justin Timberlake included flannel in his Levi’s collection.

But I’d say this year was the point at which the combination of those things and flannel all came together for a trend that really overtook social media timelines — especially on Facebook and Instagram! There were matching flannel pajamas everywhere it seemed!

There were couples with their dogs (most pets were not in required PJs but some did have on flannel which I admit was something to see!) and families with kids of all ages all wearing plaid, or printed pajamas that matched. Some were tops and bottoms while plenty of the others had on flannel pants with a t-shirt.

Did you don matching flannel pajamas?

Did your family do a photo for Christmas? Any chance you wore matching flannel pajamas? Please drop a link to your Instagram photo or tweet, etc. I’d love to see them in case I missed it!

Our family didn’t coordinate our clothes, but you can see lots of cotton and one of us had on cotton flannel!

Ideas for Christmas Family Photos

Family photos are something we love (at least some of us love them, others begrudgingly agree to participate occassionally!

Our family typically keeps it simple. We all wear whatever we want most of the time. Sometimes when we have a really big group, we’ve asked everyone to wear solids if possible. That was the case one year when we took a big group photo at Thanksgiving, though you’ll notice we weren’t too strict, especially with kids.

We could certainly ask everyone to wear a black shirt and jeans, or buy a stack fo shirts in the various sizes we need. That seems to work really well for some families. But it’s also fine to just go with what we’ve got — sometimes the spontaniety of the moment really gets great, honest smiles!

Hope you are enjoying the holidays!

[click_to_tweet tweet=”My family took a great photo in our matching flannel pajamas this Christmas! Did you? ” quote=”We were definitely on trend this year! “]

[click_to_tweet tweet=”Love our family photos but we aren’t into the matching flannel pajamas so much! What about you? ” quote=”Our family isn’t a matching flannel pjs kind of family…”]

The post Matching Flannel Pajamas Reach New Peak This Christmas appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I’m not sure what I thought a stereotypical dairy farmer was like when I got on social media, but I didn’t think I’d find a bunch of them tweeting. And I certainly didn’t expect to meet farmers who have secret agent cows blogging from their farms. Then I met Ryan Bright. Ryan is a 5th generation farmer with a slightly overactive imagination. He works alongside his father and uncle on a 100 cow dairy farm. He has one normal blog, Silo Skies, that talks about life on his dairy. His other blog, The Udder Side, is a sometimes humorous look at farm life from the point of view of secret agent spy cows. You can follow him on Twitter @Farmerbright.

I love cotton

One hundred percent

All the other fabrics

Never make a dent

(in my wallet)

As just a regular guy and a dairy farmer, I am a big fan of cotton. I buy it for both reasons. No, I don’t purchase cotton clothes for my cows, although they might have liked to wear pretty cotton sundresses over Easter. Cotton for me is both feed and clothing.

Our cows are fed a balanced ration of hay, silage, and grain. The grain contains cotton and I sometimes even see a bit of the white fibers. It makes a great source of energy and nutrition in their diet. I think it must be the secret ingredient to great tasting milk, at least that’s what Janice Person told me and I’m sure she’s not biased.

food rations for dairy cows include cottonseed

With three kids and a wife I am definitely a cotton supporter in the clothing department as well, but today I’m going to talk about me. My favorite item of cotton is a faded blue flannel shirt.

Dairy Farmer Ryan Bright in Old Blue

Old blue the shirt has been with me for a very long time, 1992 or so. This makes my shirt about 497 in clothing years. There were also brothers to this shirt, red and brown, but blue is the favorite and the other two have both passed on. He, he’s definitely a he, is almost always untucked and worn over a cotton t-shirt. I have owned him longer than I’ve owned a car or even started dating my wife. As far as that goes, he’s probably seen most of my old girlfriends, too, not that we want to talk about that.

While some folks turn to mac and cheese or chocolate for comfort, I turn to blue. He’s just comfortable and home-y. These days he’s washed on gentle (when I wash him) and worn only on special occasions like on a cool day when I have the opportunity to hang out at the house and watch tv (moments that grow fewer!).

Generally speaking there is a timeline for clothing in my house. New shirts and pants start out as going to church or town clothes. They graduate to hangin’ at the house clothes to going to the barn clothes to grease rags. Obviously stains and rips move the timeline forward and there is still an opportunity for some to take a detour to the goodwill boxes. My wife has threatened to move old blue past his unnatural state of being into barn clothes or worse, but so far I’ve kept him safe.

Is cotton the fabric of our lives? If it is what makes you comfortable and feel good then it is definitely the fabric of my life and especially so when I’m wearing old blue.

What’s your “old blue” comfy cotton story?

Related Reading

• The Udder Side — Secret Agent Cows taking the upper hand on Ryan Bright!
• Silo Skies — Ryan’s perspective on the dairy
• AgProud: Tennessee Dairy Farmer Ryan Bright (agricultureproud.com)

The post Old Blue Takes the Top Spot on the Dairy appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.