On the Fifth Day of a Feminine Christmas

This flowy nightgown is so pretty and so Christmas. I love nightgowns but since I freeze with winter’s night temperatures, more often I choose pajamas for everyday.

Yet, there is something so special about having a lovely Christmas nightgown. Have you seen the Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray Christmas movie, Remember the Night that I told you about years back? There’s a really nice “nightgown scene” where Stanwyck’s character bundles and tosses her skimpy little silk number back into her suitcase for a lofty flannel nitie handed to her by one of her hostesses. So touching…so much Christmas. I warm up just watching it.

Years ago, I found a beautiful white brushed flannel nightgown that struck the right chords for me: smocked Victorian styling with billowing sleeves caught at the wrist with pearl buttons in a row. It was $40 which at the time was an enormous sum for a nightgown. But my sister talked me into it and I wore it for Christmas morning that year in our living room. Forevermore, it was known as my Christmas gown and it came with me into my marriage and beyond. I search for another still…

Nightgowns are wonderful ways to add romance to your holiday. I discovered that online department stores not near me are terrific sources for nightgowns. One special nightgown for the most special family celebration. Enchant them. Enchant yourself. If not Christmas, when???

PS: Thank you so much for loving this series and for your comments and emails.

4 Comments

Karen

December 16, 2024 at 10:03 am Reply

My daytime wear is a uniform of blue jeans and a cozy sweater during the cold months. I wear sturdy shoes and hefty socks, and I think I could win the award for lumberjack of the year. At night, I revel in the femininity of a nightgown. I love the romantic feel of it, I love the slightly Gothic feel of floating around the house with yards of white flannel moving with me. When I sit in my bed and knit, listening to a podcast or some beautiful music (especially Christmas carols at this time of the year) in my nightie, I feel like the heroine of a period drama on PBS. Thank you for this reminder of the unusually feminine grace of wearing a nightgown. It’s the one time in my day when I feel utterly and completely womanly.
And that Barbara Stanwyck movie is one of my favorites! The character of the maiden aunt who brings the warm flannel nightgown to the very modern young woman is one of the sweetest scenes in cinema. To me, it represents this young woman’s grudging admission to not have to be the tough cookie that she is, that she can be warm-hearted and old-fashioned, and surrender to the joys of a more traditionally feminine role, inspired to the dear older women who show her there is another way.

Dana

December 15, 2024 at 11:12 pm Reply

This is so timely as I just bought my 87 year old mom a lovely Eileen West nightgown for her Christmas present. I have rediscovered nightgowns for myself recently as they just feel so much more beautiful, special, and feminine than pajamas. By the way, the nightgown part in Remember the Night is such a great scene and I always enjoy your classic movie recommendations.