Greg's grand plan started simple enough. "We should create eerie Christmas shirts with dogs and cats," he told his friends, who sat in his living room. Half-eaten candy canes lay around, and Mariah Carey played in the background.
Christmas T-Shirt Design
Greg decided to design a Christmas shirt
He wasn't very crafty, but that's where he made up for it with lots of zest. Everyone agreed to this almost as if to make up for Greg's untenable skills.
Greg's Design Imagination
"Okay! Picture this! Dogs in Santa hats! Cats in elf outfits! It'll be the most festive cat and dog gear of all time!" They glanced at one another, and his friends chose to humor him. Greg's enthusiasm could rub off on people, after all.
Start Designing
He set himself in front of his trusty computer and booted up a free online design software he'd never used before. "I'm sure this isn't going to be too hard," he was saying, drinking his peppermint coffee, with his very first task being to find a picture of a dog. First things first.
Select images
He picked a stock photo of a golden retriever, but things went downhill. While trying to add a Santa hat, Greg stretched the dog's face creating an unholy, sausage-like monster. "Well," Greg thought leaning his head to one side. "It's festive but scary." Still determined, he continued.
Next came the cats. Greg picked a sweet tabby but made it bright green when he tried to fix the lighting. Then, in a move that made no sense, Greg put the cat on top of the dog's head. "It's an elf cat costume!" he said with pride.
Background and writing
As he worked on his art, he placed snowflakes in the background, but they turned out to be floating pasta. "No biggie," Gregory went on. "Who doesn't want pasta?" To finish, he added the words "Meowy Woofmas!" in big Comic Sans font. Just right.
Design presentation
Hours later, Greg had called a few of his friends over to preview the creation. "Prepare yourselves to be amazed!" he said, seemingly showing off the design on the TV. The time had come for the Christmas pet portrait session.
Friends reaction
What followed was a brief moment of shocked silence. Then Jenna laughed so hard she almost fell off the sofa. "Oh gosh...oh gosh," she chuckled. "Does the cat... have to be lime green?"
"And why does the dog look like it's howling?" Ben asked while tears streamed down his face.
"It's not howling," Greg replied. "It's happy. This is a Christmas dog shirt and Christmas pet outfit rolled into one!"
"Why does it say 'Meowy Woofmas' in Comic Sans?!" Jenna gasped.
Greg crossed his arms. "Comic Sans is warm and friendly, just like me."
Funny or smart?
Their laughter-or perhaps it was because of it- drove Greg to print up a few shirts. He did not expect quite such a response. When he wore a shirt with his design to the local Christmas market, people were struck by the Christmas pet clothing. "Is this... going for funny?" one asked. "Or is it clever?"
Requests started pouring in. Greg's unconventional Christmas pet portrait became the must-have holiday gift of the season. People didn't know if it was something to love or only amusing, but one thing was really certain: Greg had hit gold.
And as Greg reveled in his newfound fame, he couldn't stop grinning. "Told you," he boasted. "Dogs and cats always get to win together. It's the best Christmas pet gift!"
Somewhere a lime green cat blinked in agreement, preparing for more funny animal Christmas costumes.
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