No putting on appearances here.
One good-humored couple in North Carolina proudly bucks tradition, eschewing “picture perfect” annual Christmas cards in favor of “total disaster” hypothetical holiday situations.
In 2013, Jonathan and Jessica Stanley hoped to take typical yuletide photos with their firstborn, Jackson – but everything went wrong.
The Stanley family from North Carolina decided to ditch the perfect Christmas card picture in 2013 after a shoot with their newborn Jackson was a "total disaster" - and in favor of funny ones where everything goes wrong. (SWNS)
"After we had our first child, Jessica and I tried to capture a 'picture perfect' Christmas card, but it was a total disaster! If one person looked good, the other blinked,” Jonathan recently confessed, according to news agency South West News Service (SWNS).
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Jessica and Jonathan Stanley with kids Elijah, 5, Evelyn, 1, and Jackson, 7. (SWNS)
"If we both had our eyes open, the baby cried. Or the wind-whipped hair in our face,” he recalled. “The photo shoot went so poorly that we decided to just send the outtakes as our Christmas card instead, people loved it.”
The Stanley's Christmas card in 2018. (SWNS)
The following year, the couple totally embraced the idea of parodied photos, as social media director Jonathan turned to Photoshop to “capture the essence of how we felt as parents” at the time.
By then, the Stanleys had welcomed their second son, Elijah, and life could feel chaotic with two babies.
The Stanley's Christmas card in 2017. (SWNS)
"Even though we only had two boys, it felt more like six!” the dad said. "So I duplicated our toddler [with Photoshop] all around the house getting into trouble and it really resonated with our friends and family.”
Using the image editing software for the now-signature silly pictures in the years that followed, the creative parent has crafted various Christmas-centric photos, as inspired by hypothetical holiday nightmares. Inspired by the thought of Jackson and Elijah getting into trouble in preparing for the big day, favorite shots include the boys chopping down a fir tree in their front yard with a chainsaw to running away from home in the family's car, bound for the North Pole.
The Stanley's Christmas card in 2016. (SWNS)
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The Stanley's third child, baby Evelyn, made her debut on the family’s now-famous Christmas cards in 2018, as her brothers “lifted” her with a pole to hang the star on their decorated evergreen. The horrified parents, meanwhile, “rushed” to intervene.
In this year’s edition, Jonathan and Jessica scrambled to “save” Evelyn as she rode on top of a helicopter drone, as directed by her big brothers, who flew the device and worked as a Santa-chic air traffic controller.
The Stanley's Christmas card in 2015. (SWNS)
Though staged, glossy photos of tots are a popular holiday trend du jour for young parents in the Instagram era. Jonathan says that he and his wife, who works as a pediatric nurse, prefer to keep it more real.
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The Stanley's Christmas card in 2014. (SWNS)
"We decided to start sharing them publicly because we hope other parents will enjoy them just as much - and go a bit easier on their kids at Christmas!" he said.
More importantly, Jonathan stressed that all of the “dangerous” moments highlighted in the family’s Christmas cards are created in Photoshop – and expressed his appreciation that the software makes all the fun possible.
"As a child, my favorite comic strip was Calvin and Hobbes - so I think that had a big influence on my Christmas cards,” he shared.
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