This is an email from my friend Mike - his true story and worth a post.   Merry Christmas!

“So let’s make this short story by saying the basic premise is that every mother have the unexplained desire to dress their little boys in attire that will years later cause them pain and suffering when their friends inadvertently view the pictures.  This universal truth is a mystery that scientist will probably never fully be able to explain.   
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The scene from the “Christmas Story” where Ralphie is forced to wear Aunt Kara’s bunny suit comes to mind but I digress. Usually I am out of the house before anyone else stirs.  I do this for two reasons; (1) get to work early and (2) avoid the drama that transpires as the rest of family gets ready for the day….those people are cranky in the morning.  However this morning I slept later and got to see some to the domestic drama unfold.  .
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The episode begins as my three year boy is protesting vehemently about something in the other room.   It seems my wife wants him to go put on something his grandmother has purchased for him at the thrift store.  This really doesn’t register till later because these types of altercations are not an uncommon occurrence in the morning.  Later I enter the room and Ben has on a Christmas sweater vest and his head hung low, shoulders slumped.   A small smile creases my face because, in my humble opinion, it is not a very flattering sweater vest.  My wife asks me with steel in her eye and a forced smile on her face, “Daddy, doesn’t Ben look handsome”?  I am unsure what to say as I feel for my son, having suffered the same indignities as a young man but at the same time fearing for my own safety.  After doing the math, I decide to take the low road and sell my second child out.  I stammer…yes dear, yes he does look handsome stifling a giggle at the same time.  My youngest son continues to stare at the floor in despair knowing now that his fate has been sealed.  He has no ally in the ruling body. 
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Not two seconds later my eight year old walks into the room, obvious to the Christmas sweater vest controversy, takes one look at his brother and begins pointing and laughing.  He eventually doubles over laughing.  Even my wife can no longer keep a straight face at this point.  The three year old fails to see the humor in situation, rips the sweater vest off and throws it on the floor trading short term pain for long-term gain (no photographic evidence). 

Actually I am proud of him for having the discernment to understand what was at stake.  My mother still has a picture of me in an “apple suit” which she proudly displays for all the world to see as I move through the later part of my third decade.