7 Years Ago, Kim Kardashian Spent 1.3 Million On The Perfect Holiday Party. This Year, She Can’t Even Get Her Kids To Take A Picture

As parents we always have an idealized image of what the holidays should look like for our families: everyone in matching pajamas, tons of presents around a massive Christmas tree, smiling faces for the family photo. But everybody knows things rarely go exactly as we hope. Even Kim Kardashian can relate to this, because where she once poured $1.3 million into the perfect holiday party, now she can’t even get her kids to take a picture.

Kim Kardashian shared her hilariously relatable attempt to get North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm to smile for the camera. Kim was decked out in all brown — a fur coat covering what appeared to be a leather corset, complete with leggings and knee-high thong sandals — with her hair pulled back in a tight bun and sunglasses to complete the look. “I really tried,” she wrote on her Instagram post that showed her fruitless efforts:

If not for the final slide that showed North West lip-syncing with her mom to “Thx,” we might not have even known the 12-year-old was even there (well, the blue wisp of hair that can be seen walking out of the frame on the third photo was another clue).

It seems like Kim Kardashian would have settled with just a nice photo with her three youngest kiddos, but she couldn’t quite get 10-year-old Saint to get close to her (or stop dancing in other shots). Six-year-old Psalm also seems to have caught the sillies after a while, as he can be seen making faces. The SKIMS boss better hold on tight to Chicago, because that 7-year-old stayed ready to hug up on her mom for the pic.

Now Flash Back to Kimye’s 2018 Christmas Party

What a departure this was from seven years ago. It’s no secret that a Kardashian Christmas isn’t cheap, and to this day Kim splurges on hallways of Christmas trees and even a pianist to play live music in her home. But back in 2018 she and her then-husband Kanye West went all out, transforming their Southern California mansion into a winter wonderland for the Kardashian-Jenner family’s annual holiday soiree.

Florist Ashley Greer gave People an estimated breakdown of how much Kim Kardashian and Kanye West spent on everything, which reportedly included:

• $350,000: Fake snow to cover one acre of the three-acre property (including installation and removal)
• $200,000: Installation of Australian artist Kathy Temin's “My Monument: White Forest,” which included 20 sculptures
• $80,000-$100,000: Food and beverages
• $80,000: Lighting for special cloud fixtures, the interior of the tents and the sledding hill.
• $50,000: Price per tent with dance floors, of which there were several
• $35,000: 200 tons of ice chopped into snow for a sledding hill
• $30,000: Furniture and prop rental

That’s not even counting the cost of John Legend performing, since he’s a friend of the family and likely sang for free (or at a severely discounted price).

What a time that was. I have to wonder if Kim Kardashian thinks back to that on the days when she realizes her Christmas cards are unusable because North was sticking up her middle finger in all of the photos.

You can get one more dose of the whole family’s antics, with The Kardashians Season 7 finale dropping Christmas Day for those with a Hulu subscription.