Family ditch ‘picture perfect’ Christmas cards for hilarious ‘season gone wrong’ scenes

The Stanleys came up with the idea after their 2013 photoshoot was a ‘total disaster’ – now they surprise their family by sending cards with their ‘baby flying a drone’ and Christmas baking chaos

For most families sending their own personalised Christmas cards, it’s about getting the perfectly staged photo to go with it, probably with matching outfits. But one family have ditched the idea of a ‘picture perfect’ card in favour of comical snaps of the holiday going wrong – including one of their baby riding a drone and a disastrous cookie-making session.

The Stanleys came up with the idea after their Christmas card photoshoot with newborn Jackson in 2013 was a “total disaster”. They sent the hilarious outtakes to their friends and family and it gave them the idea to mock up scenes of ‘Christmas gone wrong’ for future cards.

Each year, they use real photos of the family of five – and then the dangerous elements like chainsaws and runaway cars are photoshopped in later and they now have an impressive set.

The 2022 festive treat sees the children – Jackson, 10, Elijah, eight and Evelyn, four – trying and failing to bake Christmas cookies.

Meanwhile dad Jonathan, 38, and mum Jessica, 37, arrive home to the chaos.

Jackson can be seen mixing the cookie dough with the family dog on a flour-covered floor, whilst sister Evelyn roasts a marshmallow on an open gas stove.

Lying on a cupboard high off the floor, Elijah attempts to drape tinsel over them while one end catches fire on the stove.

Dad Jonathan is seen coming home to the kitchen nightmare with Christmas shopping in hand, while mum Jessica unloads the car, unaware of the mischievous antics.

Marketing director Jonathan and paediatric nurse Jessica, from Charlotte, North Carolina, send the cards to their holiday mailing list and say their friends and family love the annual surprise.

Jonathan said: “The idea for the cards came by accident. After we had our first child, Jessica, I tried to capture a ‘picture perfect’ Christmas card, but it was a total disaster.

“If one person looked good, the other blinked.

“If we both had our eyes open, the baby cried. Or the wind whipped hair in our face.

“The photo shoot went so poorly that we decided to just send the outtakes as our Christmas card instead, people loved it.

“From there the idea was born.”

In 2015’s card, Elijah had a near-miss as Jackson cut down a tree – with a chainsaw.

The year after, Jackson and Elijah waited patiently for Santa on the roof, with a ‘ben gud’ banner.

“When we had our second child, I decided to use a little Photoshop to try and capture the essence of how we felt as parents,” the dad-of-three said.

“Even though we only had two boys, it felt more like six!

“So I duplicated our toddler all around the house getting into trouble and it really resonated with our friends and family.

“Then I had the idea that it would be funny if my boys were doing really dangerous things in preparation for Santa, like cutting down a tree with a chainsaw.

“As a child, my favourite comic strip was Calvin and Hobbes – so I think that had a big influence on my Christmas cards.

“The notion that my kids are so excited about Santa that they get into all kinds of trouble preparing for his arrival made us laugh.

“We decided to start sharing the publicly because we hope other parents will enjoy them just as much – and go a bit easier on their kids at Christmas.

“As they get older we realised we can’t just chase them around the house every year so we changed it up to what the kids are actually doing in the house.”

Jonathan was keen to emphasise that the mad scenes are stitched together in Photoshop, and added: “Anything dangerous is just created in Photoshop.”

In 2017, Jonathan and Jessica sprinted out of the front door to stop their sons driving a car which was graffitied with ‘North Pole or Bust!’

2019’s scene, which is Jonathan’s favourite, shows boys Jackson and Elijah using a fishing rod to lift baby Evelyn up to put a star on top of the Christmas tree.

In 2020’s offering, Elijah attempts to hang the lights up while free-climbing the wall, as Jackson takes aim with a nail gun.

In 2021’s card, the kids are in the garden taking flight on a homemade airship supported by balloons – reminiscent of the film Up.

The inspiration for this year’s card came from their annual cookie-baking session.

He said: “Baking cookies is an annual thing we do each year.

“So we start with something they actually do or love and I thought about what they’d do unsupervised.

“Fairly straightforward about how kids would cook and it resulting in a disaster in the kitchen!”