The holidays are meant to bring people together, but for one blended family on social media, the complete opposite occurred. Viral Christmas portraits of a man with his girlfriend, their two kids, and his older son from a previous relationship have since divided people online.
The photos showed the youngest children and their parents in matching green pajamas while the 5-year-old boy, named Trü, wore a black set of pajamas with “Christmas Crew” written on the long-sleeve shirt and Santa Claus socks.
Trü’s mother, Taylor, has since spoken out about the familial drama. As the photographic memories circulated on various social platforms, the nursing student explained that her ex reached out on Dec. 19 asking if he could pick their son up from school for the weekend.
According to the boy’s mother, the co-parents have a custodial agreement that alternates weekends with the child. That weekend in question was hers; however, she was fine with allowing Trü to spend extra time with his father and younger siblings. Taylor said she and her ex coordinated the boy’s needs but that at no point was she notified of plans for a family photo shoot on Dec. 21.
“On Christmas, dad sends me the Christmas pictures, and I’m like, ‘Cute, but why doesn’t my son have on the same pajamas as everybody else?’ His response was they were out of stock,” said the outraged mother. “I feel like that was dead wrong,” she added, noting that Trü was photographed in old “highwater” pajamas that were never intended for him to wear outside the home.
@craveslim Story Time on the controversial Christmas Topic about the family matching pj pictures . HEY IM THE KIDS MOM🙋🏽♀️ #christmas #matchingpjs #stepparent #stepmom #pajamas ♬ original sound – Slim | Nursing Student | SAHM
Upset with her son being singled out, she took to Facebook to express her grievances. “AM I WRONG FOR BEING UPSET??? I DONT FEEL LIKE I AM,” she wrote, in part, about the situation.
From there, social media took over the discourse. “Dad should’ve made sure everyone matched or no one did,” wrote someone on Taylor’s TikTok post detailing the full story. Another said, “They was wrong they had them matching down to the slippers.”
Her ex’s new girlfriend, Riya Lee, addressed the matter when several people blamed her for not making the photo shoot inclusive. On Facebook, she argued, “Very much didn’t leave him out of nunnnnn!”
That Pjamas step mom is an evil being 🙁😞 pic.twitter.com/5p1A8ofGY7
— The Instigator (@Am_Blujay) December 28, 2024
And that she “didn’t feel comfortable with him not matching but it was tooo late because our shoot was literally mins away & i DEFINITELY didn’t know he was going to be in our pictures and the MOTHER THAT IAM I WOULD NEVERRRRRRRR EVERRRR LEAVE HIM OUT OF NUN & I never did.”
Still, people wrote messages such as “If you would ‘NEVER’ leave him out then why not just buy him pjs to begin with?” Lee seemed to appreciate a post that read, “Yall solving the problem WRONG! She wanted to be in the picture too. Don’t worry about it. I got you bitter baby.”
She reshared the post that shows a photoshopped version of the portrait with Taylor included. “That Pjamas step mom is an evil being,” wrote someone on Twitter. A second user typed, “All kids need to feel loved …How is that boy going to feel looking at that pic when he grows up ? Being a good step-parent involves a commitment to understanding and empathy.”
Taylor spoke with People about the fallout, saying, “The blame was never on the girlfriend” and “I never pointed a finger at her, but once my post started getting a lot of views… she made her post and she felt like I was attacking her, but I never attacked her. The internet blamed her…I’ve always blamed dad from jump.”
Speaking about her son, she said the pajama fiasco left him feeling “not good.” To make up for it, Christmas was extra special for her, Trü, her partner, and his two kids, as they all wore matching holiday onesies.
