There is only one place for that shot
Are you really sure that it needs to be mounted and framed on the mantelpiece? I'd at least let them choose where in the house to place it - might suit the dining room better
As for the shot one must always understand that as somone who is keen to learn and develop in photography we can often end up reducing our work into simply how it measures up to the concepts of a perfect image as defined by laws of exposure and rules of compostion. This is further enforced by the views we tend to get on forums where many around us are also striving toward the same goals and with similar levels of understanding.
Thus we lose track of something that the "non-photographers" can often see - and that is context and content of the shot itself. Sometimes a photograph is highly valued even though its blurry, out of focus and the white balance was a bit off - because its the only pic of "so and so" that we happen to have. The content and context have ruled over all the preconcived "rules" of photography to rate the photo highly.
This is not about "breaking the rules" but more about appreciating a photograph in a different way and understanding that there is more than one view and school of thought.
ps -- the above should never be used as a defence of bad photography