Many uses of Flannel Pajamas and the memories associated with it

The other day I was thinking about my grandma on my mom's side. I loved her more than anyone in my family. Literally, more than even my parents.

She was a very frugal person since she always had a small budget to work with. She had lost her father when she was just two months old and never had extra money to spend on wants. She always had to operate on a modest budget from one income raising three children after she got married.

She never purchased ready pajama sets up until she could no longer sew. She would buy flannel pajama fabric in bulk and would sew both my grandfather and my uncle their pajamas for winter and would use a lightweight cotton fabric for summer pajamas. They never had more than two pairs of pajamas for any season because they did not NEED more. When one set was washed, the other would be worn.

When the pajamas started getting old, she would cut them up to use as rags for various cleaning jobs and would tear parts of the pajamas into strips to tie beanstalks and tomato vines.

She would always salvage the buttons and zippers to use them again on other sewing projects.

Despite being so frugal, she was no hoarder. She never owned more than necessary and never had to throw out excess which did not exist.

She sundried apricots, plums, zucchinis, bell peppers and made her own jams from her bountiful garden, made pickled grape leaves to stuff. She knew her prices and would not spend more money for out of season produce.

She was both a great cook and a great baker. She did not like housework but would do it impeccably and be done with it early in the morning so that she could have time for knitting or reading. Was an avid reader.

We had a great routine when I was little. After lunch, she would listen to the news broadcast at 1 p.m. and then we would nap. We would read or do some art projects together until 4 p.m. to have our tea and while we had tea, we listened to children's plays adapted for radio. After that, we would head out to the playground and wait for my grandpa to come back from work and do some gardening before dinner.

Life was simple, enjoyable and full of love. I had the best grandparents ever...