Renee's Guide to the Holidays- Part 4: Christmas with the family

Does your family celebrate Christmas with piles of delicious food? If your answer was "yes," feel free to refer to Renee's Guide to the Holidays- Part 1: Thanksgiving and follow those guidelines. In fact, feel free to use those guidelines for any major family function that involves a sit-down dinner situation.

Christmas with the family has the potential to be super casual- every sitting around in their PJ's for most of the day, until it's time for Grandma to come and then everyone changes into the reindeer applique sweaters that she bought for everyone LAST Christmas. I'm here to tell you that neither of these are acceptable fashion choices. Well, unless Grandma's feelings will be hurt, then wear the sweater for the minimum acceptable time to ensure Grandma's feeling remain intact.

Don't get me wrong- it's not that I oppose casual clothing for family functions- I really don't. I just think there is casual that's acceptable and casual that's unacceptable. PJ's? Unacceptable. Holiday- themed attire? Unacceptable. That's not to say that your clothes can't be in line with the theme of the holiday- feel free to break out the red and green and go to town. What I'm trying to say is that tacky holiday prints best suited for greeting cards and wrapping paper do not belong on your body. Let's do a little comparing and contrasting:

First up- the BAD:

Christmas Morning Cardigan, Christopher and Banks

Christmas Necktie, Amazon

Christmas Shirt, 6pm

Christmas Shirt, Draper's & Damon's

Are you picking up what I'm putting down? Hopefully your eyes aren't bleeding from those pictures.

Now, the GOOD: 

Red Tie-waist Cardigan, ShopNBC, $32.63

Striped Silk Necktie & Cufflinks, Amazon, $22.85

Cashmere Half-Zip Sweater, Ralph Lauren, $425

I could provide you with an endless supply of photos of both the good and the bad, but I hope that at this point, you pretty much get it. Whether casual or formal, family or friends, stick with pieces that while they may be festive and bright in terms of color and print, they are still items that you could potentially wear sometime other than just during Christmas. If it sports a giant snowflake or evergreen tree, chance are, it's not versatile enough. And it's probably pretty tacky, too. Just sayin'. 

Here's to not finding anything like "the BAD" under your tree this year. Happy Holidays!