Woman takes cheesy 'family' pictures with friends after family excluded her from holiday card

A woman (u/daisydelo) who wasn't included in family photos for Easter cards decided to pull a prank on her mom and stepdad by posing for "cheesy" pictures with her friends. She may have burned some bridges with her family, but her prank had everyone on the internet laughing. The story was shared on Reddit in 2022.

The woman revealed that she was born to a teenage mom who later married another man and had more kids. Just before Easter, she found that her family had done a photoshoot for the cards without her. "My mom said that it was just because she needed them printed in time, and I was at college. But college is only 25 minutes away, and I feel like my stepdad is resentful that their family includes some other guy's child," she explained. The stepdad even described the pictures as of "close family," and that hurt the woman even more. To prank her family, she took her siblings for a photoshoot, where two of her closest friends dressed up as her stepdad and mom. "I had it printed on cards and signed them with 'Love, The (Name) Family.' I swapped the cards in the envelopes my mom had prepared and resealed them with the sort of stickers she uses," the teen recalled. 

Surprisingly, some of her extended family couldn't even realize that something was off about the pictures, but a few others mentioned to her mom that the photos were funny. "Then my aunt sent a photo of the card to the family group chat and said, 'This isn't you, is it?' and the gig was up... My mom was furious at me for sending out the joke cards and embarrassing the family, and also for not sending the cards she had made and written in," the woman wrote. She explained to her mom that she couldn't understand why she was angry since it was apparently not a big deal to exclude family from photos. "She said that I was making a mockery of her and my stepdad by having 'cross-dressers' be in the photo. I said that I just wanted a photo with my close family, just like my stepdad did, and I consider those friends of mine my closest family! Because I guess that's just something we can choose now," she wrote.

Now, remember, the teen wasn't just sad because she was missing from the family pictures, but also because of how her stepfather reacted to it. Not everyone, like the woman, has a good relationship with their stepparent. In fact, a Pew Research Center survey found that people often feel more responsible for their biological family than their step-relatives, highlighting the emotional distance that exists in such families. Reacting to the Reddit story, u/misslo718 commented, "NTA only because this is a genius idea and you actually executed it. Good for you because sometimes one has to stoop to pettiness to get their point across, and you did it in a humorous way. Side note: your mom’s joke about 'cross-dressers' was not cool. Keep an eye on her homophobia, and remind her that men played women's parts on stage for years and years."

Similarly, u/bscrolling wrote, "NTA, this was perfect. You harmed no one and still showed their hypocrisy and neglect. This could have been MUCH more petty; you showed restraint." u/merelywhelmed1 wrote, "I'm totally on board for this. It's EXACTLY how their level of callousness should be addressed... with pointed humor. Well done! I especially love that you don't hold anything against your siblings and hope you continue to have the loving relationship with them that allows for this kind of thing."

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