It’s that time of the year again! No, not the fun part when you get to watch your kids open gifts while sipping hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music. It’s holiday photo shoot time! The time when we hire a professional photographer and pray for dear life that everyone can get it together long enough to smile for the camera at the same damn time.

37 problems only parents trying to take the perfect family photo for their holiday card will understand:

 

1) When your kid is absolutely terrified:

 

 

2) When your kids don’t want to wear matching sweaters:

 

3) When your toddler won’t stop hogging the camera:

 

4) When nobody is excited about their new pajamas:

 

5) When everybody is way too excited about their new pajamas:

 

6) When you’ve moved on to Christmas but your kid is still solidly stuck in Halloween

 

7) When your kid is willing to lose a shirt:

 

8) When your daughter thinks Santa stole her dog:

 

9) When your baby looks like Ebenezer Scrooge:

 

10) When your kid won’t stop moving:

 

11) When your kids look like they are on a very upsetting episode of Maury:

 

12) When your baby looks like her siblings have a gun pointed in her back:

 

13) When your baby looks like his milk was spiked with egg nog:

 

14) When you forget you have an older child:

 

15) When no one will take their fingers out of their mouths:

 

16) When your bribes keep failing:

 

17) When your kid tells her little sister the truth about Santa:

 

18) When your photographer is only available at nap time:

 

19) When your baby wants to meet Santa, not be Santa

 

20) When you have a teenager

 

21) When you have a cat

 

22) When your baby suspects his sister wears a toupee

 

23) When you have to look twice before you find your third kid in the picture

 

24) When your kid almost cracks his head open

 

25) When you can’t even fake it

 

26) When your husband starts questioning all his life choices

 

27) When your kid hates his present

 

28) When everybody behaves perfectly and then your husband has to be an idiot

 

29) When your kid is the one on the bottom, second from the left

 

30) When everyone is having really mixed emotions

 

31) When your kids are not happy with their male stripper attire

 

32) When you’ve only got two arms to coral four kids

 

33) When your husband farted

 

34) When their screams can be heard throughout the entire mall

 

35) When your son’s onesie reads “help” instead of “helper”

 

36) When you’re holding up the line

 

37) When everybody just gives up

But seriously— wouldn’t the holidays be more fun if we all just relaxed and used the bad pics?

Post your family holiday photo fails to the Mommy Shorts Facebook page and to #holidayphotofails tagging @averageparentproblems on Instagram!