Gettin' Snuggie

For Christmas, my mother asked for a Snuggie: the blanket with sleeves. My mother is always cold and this was another attempt to stay warm in our freezing Berkeley house. You know Berkeley and it's cold, cold winters. It gets down as low as 50 on some January days.

So, after much online ordering (in which they make you buy two with a FREE READING LIGHT). And a two month back order. I finally got the Snuggie sometime in February (after finding out that they sell them at my local Wallgreens. Ah well). So Mom opens it and says dissapointedly, "It has no back."

It's a blanket with sleeves, Mom. Blankets don't have backs. What you're looking for is a bathrobe.

I thought this was our own family joke until I saw this recent article in the NY Times "Snuggie on the street: Watch your back," in which the author decides to wear her Snuggie out around Manhattan (with hilarious results).
"My biggest fear was that I would be treated as some kind of doomsday zealot when I donned my Snuggie in Times Square. I have longish hair and a beard, and the Snuggie, with its generous draping sleeves, can appear from the front like a clerical gown. It seemed to shout: “Repent!”

As I stood near the TKTS booth writing this thought in my notebook, I realized that: “Hey, I’m writing in my notebook while standing up wearing a blanket. These sleeves are handy.”"