Funny Poses for Family Christmas Cards

June 18, 2022 Post a Comment

A family have shared their hilarious annual Christmas card showcasing "parenting disasters," with a little help from photoshop.

Jonathan Stanley and his wife, Jessica, have been delighting friends, family, and the internet, with their yearly festive offering.

Rather than getting into a traditional pose for the cards, the family, from the U.S., decided to embrace the chaos of family life over the past eight years.

The Stanleys, who have three children, Jackson, 9, Elijah, 7, and Evelyn, 3, now post their crazy cards online every Christmas, even featuring the family dog.

Over the years, their children have been abducted by drones, stolen the family car to drive to the North Pole, and climbed onto the roof.

Speaking to Newsweek, Stanley, explained how their tradition came about, saying: "Shortly after we had our first child we tried to take a ''traditional" Christmas card and the results were spectacularly bad.

"Things like the baby crying the whole time, windy, camera misfiring... you name it. If two of us looked okay, the third one blinked or sneezed or something. We laughed so hard at the results that we ended up just sending a series of the worst outtakes and our family loved it.

"So it gave us an idea—instead of trying to capture perfect family photos for our Christmas cards, we thought it was more relatable to capture what parenting really felt like.

"I've also been a longtime fan of Calvin and Hobbes, which was my favorite comic strip as a kid. Calvin had such a creative and imaginative mind that I tend to project that onto my own kids.

Stanley family Christmas cards. The Stanley family have three kids, Jackson, 9, Elijah, 7, and Evelyn, 3. Jonathan Stanley

"So put those two things together—plus I happen to be pretty good with Photoshop —and that's how the tradition started."

Their 2021 effort, posted by them to Reddit on Wednesday, has already amassed more than 45,000 upvotes.

Using some clever editing, it shows the kids standing on top of a cart with a wooden sign saying "polar express" on the side, as they use a leaf blower and helium balloons to float away.

Stanley is running after the trio, as mom looks on from the front porch, wine in hand.

"Here's our annual "parenting disaster" Christmas card—8 years and counting...," Stanley captioned the post.

The creative dad explained how he comes up with the theme for each year.

He told Newsweek: "Each year I watch the kids and see what their natural interests or fascinations are, and that usually leads to the idea. For example in 2019 they were obsessed with drones and always wanted me to fly them, so that triggered the 'Fly Like Santa' idea.

"In 2020 (while stuck at home) they got really into hammers and nails... so that led to the nail gun gag.

"This year they have been watching a lot of The Grinch and Polar Express, so I just tried to imagine how they might try to re-enact that in real life (with a little inspiration from Up)."

Their alternative card has been praised by loved ones, and Stanley revealed they now end up sending out 100 a year.

He told Newsweek: "We initially kept the idea going based on the reaction from our friends and family... people would jokingly ask if we would add them to our distribution list (we do actually send around 100 printed cards out) or keep a copy on their coffee table as a conversation starter.

"We decided to post them on the internet to share a little holiday joy with others, and the reaction has been overwhelming. I think it's important to keep a healthy sense of humor—especially during a pandemic—and if the cards brighten somebody's day even for a moment then it's totally worth it. Especially fellow parents—we all feel a little overwhelmed at times, nobody has it all together."

Commenting on their most recent picture online, as SoFetchBetch wrote: "This is adorable."

Isabol22 pointed out: "I love the fact that the father wears the same Christmas sweater every year. Dedicated!"

While TrinixDMorrison added: "This series of Christmas photos, as well as Wanda and Jamal's thanksgiving photo updates, is what really makes the holidays for me."