Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos’ Christmas card is missing a few family members this year.
“We’re tired of getting all the photos approved by our kids every year,” Consuelos, 54, explained to People in an interview published on Monday, December 8. “They’re out.”
“We’ve cut them out,” Ripa, 55, added of their children, Michael, 28, Lola, 24, and Joaquin, 22.
However, the mom of three said her kids weren’t too happy that they were excluded.
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“They complained that they’re not in the Christmas card this year. They feel very slighted, and [said] ‘How could you?’” Ripa told the outlet. “I said, ‘I’m tired of waiting around for you to approve a picture. I’ve got to move.’”
Instead of using a photo with their kids, the couple opted to use a photo with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. This particular snap was taken after the cheerleaders performed “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” at the end of the Live With Kelly and Mark Halloween episode in October.
“We took a picture on the set with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, and Mark is in the middle and we’re all in our special outfits,” Ripa said. “And Mark just has a look on his face that is like … he’s so excited and happy. He’s the happiest I’ve ever seen him in a Christmas card.”
Consuelos agreed, telling the publication, “This year’s going to be great.”
The couple also recalled another year when the kids were “not very cooperative,” so Consuelos replaced his real-life family with his TV family from The CW’s Riverdale.
“That was another good Christmas card,” Ripa said.
Michael, Lola and Joaquin may not make the cut next year, either. Ripa and Consuelos revealed that they’re already planning to use a photo with the Radio City Rockettes, who are appearing on Live with Kelly and Mark‘s upcoming Christmas Sweater episode.
“The Radio City Rockettes, they’re amazing,” Ripa explained. “Every year I’m like, ‘We gotta get a picture with the Rockettes,’ but we do the show so late, and I gotta get my Christmas card to the printer early. So maybe we’ll do a picture this year for next year’s Christmas card.”
Consuelos and Ripa said that their children will be reconsidered for the Christmas cards “when they have kids” of their own.
“But until there’s grandchildren, they’re done,” Ripa said. “We’re just going to cut the kids out.”
Ripa and Consuelos met on the set of All My Children in 1995 and tied the knot shortly after. They went on to welcome Michael in June 1997, followed by Lola in June 2001 and Joaquin in February 2003.
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Back in July, Ripa told Amanda Hirsch on the “Not Skinny but Not Fat” podcast that she finds “comfort” in the fact that her children are graduating from college without student loans to pay off.
“I think my kids feel, like, very fortunate in general,” she said. “There’s, like, a comfort in knowing my kids got to graduate knowing that they weren’t having to climb out of a mountain of debt. They are so appreciative and so grateful.”
Ripa also said she and Consuelos tried to give their children a “normal” life growing up.
“They always, from the earliest ages they could, had part-time jobs, always. And … in their friend circle, they were like the only ones to have jobs,” she continued.
The Hope & Faith star added that her kids were always “fully aware” of their parents’ level of fame and what it meant for them.
“They’ll meet people on the street that will come up to them and say, ‘I watched you grow up. It is such a pleasure to see you as an adult,’” she explained. “When my kids were little, they had the opportunity to come on and do, like, little segments … and people got a glimpse into their lives. And then they grew up, and they move on, and they move out, and they move out of the country in some cases, and people don’t get to regularly check in with them. And so I feel like, once in a while, it’s important to sort of let people in because I feel like they had a group experience. My kids had a group childhood. It was like they had lots of aunties, lots of uncles, lots of grandparents.”
