Christmas Card Pajamas

“Okay boys today we get our Christmas card picture taken!” Daniel’s Mom announced. This was always a drag, every year she would dress them up in cute christmas outfits and cart them over to the Christmas store in the mall.

“Ah Mom do we have to?” Josh complained. Josh was his older brother at 10 years old, one years older than him.

“It will be fun!” Kyle exclaimed. Kyle was the oldest at 11 years old. Of course Kyle found it fun he somehow always got the least embarrassing outfit every year. He remembered last year he had to wear a silly reindeer costume and Kyle was dressed as santa. The year before that they were dressed as toys and Kyle was a toy soldier while he was a teddy bear.

“What are we wearing this year?” Daniel asked his Mom, he knew he would have to wear it no matter what.

“I found some very cute matching pajamas for everyone!” His Mom was clearly excited. This was great, it meant Kyle would at least have to wear something equally embarrassing and matching pajamas isn’t as bad as full costumes.

“That doesn’t sound so bad I guess.” Josh sounded relieved.

“Yeah this could be alright” Daniel agreed. He looked at Kyle who now looked bored, he always took pleasure in his embarrassment.

“Well let’s get changed and head over for pictures, I also need to order Christmas cards.” She handed a shopping bag to Kyle. “Mine is in my room, I’ll be right back.”. Their Mom left to go get changed in her room.

Kyle dumped the clothes on the ground in their room. “Well let’s get this over with.”.

On the ground were festive pajamas with horizontal stripes of red, green and white, the design reminded them of candy canes. Kyle started sorting through the pajamas and started smiling. “Oh these are matching alright, but they aren’t the same.” He pulled out a long sleeve shirt and pants. “These are my size.”. Daniel saw two remaining garments, one was a onesie that had buttons down the front. The second smaller one was a pair of footie pajamas with built in mittens, it had a long zipper from the collar to the foot. Kyle had already started changing and was giggling to himself.

“Why does mom always do something like this?” Josh complained as he pulled off his clothes and started to unbutton the onesie. “At Least it’s not as bad as yours Daniel”. Josh pulled up the onesie and put his arms through buttoning it into place.

Daniel took off his clothes and socks and picked up the pajamas. “These for babies! It says the size is for a toddler, am I really that small?” Daniel asked his brothers.

“Yes!” both of them said together, laughing at the coordination.

Daniel rolled his eyes at his brothers and unzipped the pajamas. He stepped into them and was surprised at how snug they were, he looked at his brothers and both of them were considerably baggier. He pulled up the legs, they exposed every bit of his shape. His feet were encased in the footie pajamas and there was an anti slip material under his feet. He pulled up the first sleeve and it ended in a mitten for his hand, unfortunately it didn’t even have a thumb hole, this made it almost impossible to pull up the other sleeve. He stood there struggling a little.

“Need some help Danny.” His brother offered as he was changed. Kyle walked over, took his sleeve and carefully pulled it up his arm, the arms were also snug and clung to him. He then reached down and started zipping up the zipper. The pajamas clung to him all over, the arms tighten up a little forcing him to curl in his fingers in the mittens. Kyle zipped the outfit all the way up and then buttoned up a zipper tab at the collar.

“Well you look cozy.” Kyle teased.

“Why is it so snug, it’s not really matching yours.” Daniel asked.

“Well all the patterns are the same, so I suppose that counts as matching” Josh offered. It was true all the outfits looked like they went together but they each had a different style.

Their door slowly opened as their mom came in, she was wearing a button down shirt with pants with a drawstring, the pattern was the same as theirs. “Well don’t you all look festive!” She smiled at the boys.

“Mom, why did I get baby pajamas, I would rather have something like Kyle’s” Daniel complained.

“Oh I wanted us all to have our own style, it will be more fun that way.” His Mom sounded delighted.

“I can’t even use my hands in this thing! I’m not a baby” Daniel continued.

“Well there were only two styles in boy's size and Kyle and Josh are wearing them. Besides, you're still short enough to fit in the toddler size and I knew you wouldn’t mind.” His Mom smiled at him again, his face just started turning red.

Daniel was annoyed with his mom, he did mind being dressed like a little baby. He looked over to his brothers who were giggling at his baby outfit.

“Don’t worry Danny, it’s just for some cute pictures!” Josh tried to reassure him.

Daniel grumbled as the four of them headed for the door to go get the pictures taken. Daniel was having trouble getting his shoes on with the mittens over his hands. “Oh Danny, you're wearing footie pajamas, don’t worry about shoes.” Kyle grabbed his gloved hand and pulled him out the door and into the hallway. Daniel just sighed and agreed with him, it would be easier that way. Kyle held onto his hand as they made their way to the elevator.

“You don’t need to hold my hand Kyle, don’t treat me like a baby!” Daniel said, sounding annoyed. The four of them entered the elevator, all pajama clad.

“You look like a baby though, I’m just helping!” Kyle said innocently.

“Stop it you two!” Their mom demanded. “Let’s go to the car.”

The elevator opened to the parking garage, Daniel stepped out and to his surprise the feet on his pajamas were surprisingly durable. Everyone got into the car, Josh, Kyle and Daniel all sitting in the back.

“Hey at least you don’t need a car seat!” Josh teased Daniel. Daniel just rolled his eyes at Josh.

“Mom, how long will this take? I want to change.” Daniel asked his Mom as she began driving.

“Oh the pictures shouldn’t take too long, I think I know what I want.” His Mom explained. “We should stop and order the postage as well, but that is only a few stores over, so not too long.”

Daniel sighed, at least he would be home soon. Their mom pulled into the parking lot of the mall, it was still November so it wasn’t super busy and they were headed to a quiet part of the mall. Daniel felt uneasy as he stepped out of the car, he didn’t want anyone from his school seeing him dressed as a baby. Kyle held his hand and pulled him along.

“Okay boys we are getting a nice family picture and then some individual shots for a photo frame.” Their Mom was clearly looking forward to today.

As they walked through the mall Daniel couldn’t help but feel helpless being pulled along by his brother in footie pajamas. He could tell he was being stared at as people did double takes as they walked by. Eventually the four of them made it to the photo place where a small Christmas scene was set up. Their mom made them do all kinds of poses and seemed to have the attendant take dozens of pictures in different poses. Kyle kept suggesting more poses and their mom agreed. Eventually it came to the individual poses, Josh was first and took a few shots of him opening fake gifts pretending to smile. Kyle only had to take some of him sitting next to a tree. Daniel had to pretend to play in the discarded wrapping paper, clearly his face was all flushed.

“Oh these are going to turn out wonderful.” His mom sounded delighted.

Eventually she went to the photo machine and paid the attendant and ordered copies of the photos. They had been taking photos for so long that Daniel now felt the urge to go to the washroom.

“Uh Mom, I just need to go to the washroom.” Daniel asked his mom.

“Oh, I see. Why don’t you three go together and meet me at the post office in the mall, I bet there is a long line anyway.” Their mother suggested.

“Sure Mom, I’ll take Daniel and Josh.” Kyle said with a smile.

“Okay, Mom,” Daniel agreed.

Kyle grabbed his hand and led him out of the photo store. “You don’t need to hold my hand Kyle, I know where the washroom is.” Daniel whined to his brother.

“Yeah but you walk too slowly and I don’t want you to get lost, there are a lot of people at the mall today” Kyle explained. The mall had started to fill up with people. Daniel started to get embarrassed again and tried not to look at the people staring at them. Kyle had been pulling Daniel along he soon discovered they weren’t heading to the washroom at all.

“Kyle, where are we going, I need to go to the washroom?” Daniel asked. Kyle didn’t answer but pulled them until they made it to a video game store. Kyle rushed in and headed for the game on display.

“I thought they were still letting people try out this game! Mom is probably getting it for us for Christmas but I wanted to play now.” The game was just a fighting game but Kyle loved them. He picked up the controllers and handed one to Josh and another to Daniel. Daniel was trying to hold the controller but without any grip it slipped out of his hands. Kyle just picked it up and placed it back in the holder. “Why don’t you just watch for now, this game is for big kids anyway.” Kyle teased his brother.

After watching his brothers play for a while Daniel started to really need to go to the washroom, he was squirming a little. “Hey guys, just stay here, I’m going to go to the washroom.” Daniel said. He walked out of the store on his own and headed for the washroom, he was getting stares from people all around him. Before he could make it a security guard stopped him.

“Hello little guy, are you lost.” The woman asked him.

“No! I’m just going to the washroom, my brother’s are back at the video game store.” Daniel tried to sound confident.

“Your pajamas are so cute, do you usually wear them to the mall?” She continued ignoring his previous comment. Daniel realised she must have thought he was a toddler wearing nothing but snug fitting footie pajamas.
“We were getting pictures taken, but me and my brothers went to the store afterwards.” Daniel was trying to explain.

“Uh huh.” The security guard said. She then picked up her radio and spoke into it. “I have the missing kid, he said his brothers are in the video store please get them and meet us at the north washrooms.” She looked back at Daniel. “Look I’ll take you to the washroom and then we will meet back up with your brother’s, we can’t have little kids wandering the mall on their own.” The security guard grabbed his gloved hand.

“I’m not a little kid, I’m just wearing this for the pictures.” Daniel was trying to explain he wasn’t a toddler.

“I know, you’re a big kid who can go to the washroom all on their own. We got asked to make sure you were okay so that’s what I’m going to do.” The security guard smiled at him. Clearly someone had told them a toddler was wandering the mall without a parent and he wasn’t going to get out of this situation. The security guard led him to the washroom and opened the door to the family washroom. “Here you go, take as long as you need.”

“Uh, thanks.” Daniel slipped through the door, at least he was finally able to relieve himself. He saw a large mirror on the wall and saw himself in his toddler outfit, he couldn’t really blame anyone for calling security, he did look like a little boy in his pajamas. He reached up for the zipper and noticed it was secured under the zipper tab, he looked in the mirror and saw that it was buttoned down. He spent a few minutes trying to undo the button with his hands trapped in his mittens, he couldn’t get a firm grasp of the button or the tab to pull it free. Daniel was starting to panic that he wouldn’t be able to take off the pajamas without help, he could ask the security guard but that would be too embarrassing. After a few more minutes of struggling he heard a familiar voice outside the door.

“Oh good you found his brother’s, I see he wasn’t lying about the matching pajamas. I’ll leave you two to help him out then.” The door opened and Kyle and Josh who looked like they were embarrassed slipped in. Kyle made a loud announcement clearly for the guards on the other side of the door to hear.

“Oh Danny! There you are! You can’t go wandering off on your own just because you don’t like the store we are at!” Kyle said, he was holding a shopping bag in his other hand. “It’s a good thing you were found by security, anything could have happened!” Kyle said even louder.

“Kyle, for once I’m glad to see you!” Daniel said who was still struggling with the zipper. “Can you undo this zipper for me?”

“Of course Danny, anything for you!” Kyle stepped over and undid the button for him and pulled down the zipper. He leaned closer to his ear and whispered “Those security guards think you're a little baby, we needed to convince them not to make a page about it to the whole mall to find Mom and that we were in charge of you. They wouldn’t drop it and even bought us some extra supplies in case we needed them. Follow my lead and no one gets in trouble.” Kyle explained this to Daniel while helping him out of the sleeper.

“Okay Danny, show us you're a big kid and use the big kids toilet!” Josh said loudly. Josh and Kyle looked away while Daniel did his business. While he was finishing up Kyle started grabbing things from the bag.

“Here Danny put this on.” Daniel was mortified, there was no way he was going to wear a pull up diaper.

“I am not wearing that” Daniel refused, the pajamas were already bad enough.

Kyle whispered again. “Just do it and we can get security off our backs.”

Daniel didn’t know what to do and why security would care about if he needed a diaper or not, he didn’t want to get in trouble or their Mom would punish them.

“Ugh, fine” Daniel washed his hands and took the diaper and put it on instead of his underwear, which Kyle tossed in the shopping bag. Daniel was already embarrassed and Kyle started zipping up his pajamas, he once again pulled up the sleeves causing his fingers to curl up. Kyle did up the zipper tab again trapping him inside.

“Just a couple more things.” Kyle pulled out a candy cane beanie that matched all of their pajamas and put it on his head, he pulled it down snuggly. “We just saw this and had to grab it, it matches so well.” Daniel just rolled his eyes. “Now hold this to your chest.” Kyle pushed a teddy bear into his arms.

“I don’t want to be holding a teddy bear, no one will believe I’m nine.” He opened his arms to let it drop to the bathroom floor but it stayed attached to his chest. “What gives, he tried to swat it away but it stayed there.” Daniel looked over at the mirror and saw that Josh had attached straps to the teddy bear that went behind him and he was holding a leash in his hands. He also saw that the diaper was clearly visible through the snug fitting pajamas.

“Now you won’t run away from us again!” Josh said loudy.

“You can’t, I’m not a baby!” Daniel demanded, his face was red. He reached up trying to grab the straps but his gloved hands wouldn’t let him adjust them.

“Let’s go back to mommy, I’m sure she’s done at the post office.” Kyle opened the door and was greeted with the two guards, the women from earlier and a man who would have brought Kyle and Josh.

“I see Danny is all safe now, no risks of accidents and running away!” The man smiled at Daniel.

“I’m not a baby, I don’t need this stuff.” Daniel whined.

“Well it seems your brother lost track of you so why don’t I take you back to your mommy, I heard your brother say she is at the post office.” The woman suggested.

The three boys walked behind the security guard, Josh was still holding onto Daniel’s leash and Kyle was trying to hold back a laugh. Eventually they make it to the post office where their Mom was just finishing up.

“Well here is our mom, thank you for being so nice to my little brother.” Kyle was all smiles. There Mom walked up to them and greeted the security guard.

“Oh, what have these boys done?” Daniel’s Mom asked the security guard.

“Well Danny here got himself separated from his brothers trying to find the washroom so we just helped out a little.” The security guard explained. “Have a good day, miss.” She then left the boys alone.

“Well Danny, I see you're looking cuter than ever.” His mom smiled at him.

“Mom, I don’t need this stuff. Can you take this leash off of me, I want to go home to change!” Daniel demanded.

“Come on boys let’s go to the car, I think Danny’s done with the mall for today.”. Without taking the leash off the four heads to the parking lot and finally Daniel is sitting back in that car, he was still in the snug fitting pajamas, a diaper and had a teddy bear toddler leash attached to him.