OK, Shutterfly isn’t really a place but you get the idea.

For Mother’s Day, us kids thought it would be an awesome gift for our mom if we took an old family picture, circa 1978, and got it blown up and turned into a canvas print a la Shutterfly. My brother even retouched the photo, taking away imperfections and smoothing out fly-away hairs.

Shutterfly promised to get the print to Mom in time for Mom’s Day if we paid for the 2-day shipping. Our total came out to $140 for a 16×20 canvas print. Mom would get it for the holiday and we’d make her day.

But of course the comedy of errors that is life, the day after placing the order, Shutterfly let us know that they actually wouldn’t be able to get it to her until Monday. That’s right, after Mother’s Day. My bro strongly voiced his disagreement about this and they offered to refund the shipping charge.

Fine, just as long as she got the picture. But come Monday when the package arrived, my parents peeled back the wrapper to reveal the above portrait in a large 16×20 canvas print. “Do you know who these kids are?” my bewildered father asked my bewildered mother. “No! But it IS the right address,” replied Mom. And the caption was correct, “The Family, 1978.”

It’s almost funny. The fact that we made a big deal about the picture coming the day after Mother’s Day and yet it was the wrong one anyway. And the absurdity of the creepy twins in a bathtub passing for our family portrait. WTF? Was it a joke? Maybe their way of getting back at us for getting mad about the gift’s late arrival? Hi-larious.

So how did Shutterfly make this right? They haven’t yet. They said they’d call us back…but we’re still waiting by the phone. So will we use them again? Um, that would be a nope.

POST EDIT: My folks finally got the right picture and they love it. But now they don’t know what to do with the picture of the twins. Any ideas? I already thought about auctioning it off on eBay. Heh.