ABC Family’s The Fosters Christmas special airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET. It looks to be full of holiday spirit, teen drama, and mamas in pajamas!
The most impressive thing about the episode, in my mind, is that it exists. Holiday specials are the hot dogs and apple pie of the television world, and to have one starring a two-mom family is a welcome sign of the times. Matching Christmas pajamas, while a holiday trope, become a pointed statement of all the ways our families are increasingly being seen as part of mainstream traditions.
Of course, matching pajamas seem to be a thing mostly among Christmas-celebrating folks. My parents never dressed our family in coordinating PJs for lighting the Hanukkah menorah, and nor do my spouse and I in our interfaith family. That just serves as a reminder that we shouldn’t take one fictional two-mom family as representing all of us, even as we praise them for the broad visibility they bring.
I’ll be watching the show and tweeting along with the #TheFosters hashtag. Hope you’ll join in the fun, or leave a comment with what you thought of the episode — or share a photo of your own family in matching PJs, if that’s your thing.
