That was the first decision I faced when I woke up on Thursday 16th December 2021. Admittedly, I don’t have a conventional job, so there’s usually a lot of flexibility in my wardrobe choices, but pyjamas don’t typically feature…

This was no ordinary Thursday, however. This was Christmas Pyjamas Day, where people were encouraged to wear their Christmas PJs to work and fundraise for Alzheimer’s Research UK. Never one to miss an opportunity to be silly for money, I had to get involved.

A week or so prior, I was all set to wear my snowman PJs when my friend Cathy proffered her red and green stripey elf onesie. It would have been rude not to accept.

Seasonal adornment

This particular day, I was heading to the ETNA Centre in East Twickenham to run my community singing group, Vocal Tonix, so I’d pre-warned the attendees and invited them to wear some kind of festive PJs, Christmas jumper or seasonal adornment, too. They didn’t disappoint – we had Santa t-shirts, polar bear PJs, Rudolf jumpers, tinsel scarves, Christmas hats, deely boppers and reindeer antlers. And, as it was the last day of term, we also had mulled wine, mince pies and nibbles galore. A real party atmosphere.

I loved being a mischievous elf for the day and, of course, had a collecting tin with me to capitalise on the opportunity to raise some money towards my target. In all my stripey glory, I chatted to some of the other groups using the centre that day and people were very generous with their donations of loose change.

We raised £39.65. Bearing in mind, society was in the grip of Omicron fear and there weren’t many people about, I was really chuffed with that. We made the most of plenty of photo opportunities, including a few “elfies”, of course!