How A Little Rebellion Changed How We Look At Funny Christmas T-Shirts

By Larson Mills


Each and every year during the holidays, my dear family and I take a picture. We use this picture primarily to make a homemade card to send out to our family in other states. Lots of families do it too, and in a matter of fact, our family in other states usually send us cards too. We like sending the cards and getting them because it's a great way to see how everyone is growing up (or in my case, growing old). We all try to outdo each other with the layout and niceness of our cards, but they're all pretty much the same. They were, at least, until we started wearing funny Christmas t-shirts in ours.

Before we made the fateful switch to funny Christmas t-shirts, our family portraits were admittedly pretty, but boring. The family all looked very nice, of course. The boys were all handsome in their shirts and ties. The wife and daughter were always gorgeous in their fine dresses and bows. I did what I could for myself in a suit, but I always looked terrible next to my beautiful family. As nice as we are, we could never shake off that look of stuffiness and formality.

One day I told my three kids to go upstairs and get ready for the family Christmas picture. An hour later, my daughter and youngest son come down looking as good as any kids can possibly look. I swelled with pride and helped adjust my daughter's hair bow. I called up for my oldest son, and heard footsteps cascading down the stairs. There he was, wearing the first of the funny Christmas t-shirts. The boy had bought it online with allowance.

I know he intended the whole thing as a funny little prank. Innocent rebellion to make me wag my finger at him and make him go change, but I decided impulsively that I would allow him to wear his funny Christmas t-shirts if he so chose. The line was drawn in the sand. Everyone would be dressed nice and he would look kind of silly in his tee, but he took the ball and ran with it without ever even flinching. Do you know what? It went off really well! We got letters back from almost everyone saying how much they enjoyed it.

The next year was all about funny Christmas t-shirts, and every year since then as well. We get online and each order a different one. The t-shirts definitely add a lot of color and variety to the shot that we didn't have before. Each of our shirts are different and reflect our different personalities really well. All of the family portraits since that first year have been really dynamic, and I owe it all to one teenage boy's light-hearted rebellion.




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