Surprise! Kardashians release a subdued Christmas card featuring Kris Jenner’s grandkids

For once, the Kardashians have kept it simple, unveiling their annual holiday card featuring the family’s youngest members.

Gone are the lavish sets, ornate costumes, heavy makeup and frankly nonholiday productions that the reality TV family has trotted out for Christmases past. This year’s image features only momager Kris Jenner’s grandchildren: Kim Kardashian’s daughter North, 2, and Kourtney Kardashian’s three kids, Mason, 6, Penelope, 3, and Reign, 1.

Absent from this year’s photo is the clan’s latest addition, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s son Saint, whom they welcomed this month.

The wee foursome, each one dressed in black (we’re still talking Kardashians after all), is seated together against a plain white studio backdrop. Kim and Kourtney unveiled the card Wednesday on Twitter with the caption, “All you need is love. Merry Christmas!,” and other family members readily retweeted it, including Jenner, who added the hashtags #PureJoy and #ourangels.

They did not say who snapped the portrait, but in years past the fam has tapped high-end fashion photographers, including David LaChappelle’s for 2013’s surreal interpretation and Nick Saglimbeni’s dramatic group shots of 2010, 2011 and 2012. Click here for more.

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Lamar Odom made headlines when he and Khloe Kardashian married in September 2009 after only a month of dating. In December 2013, they announced they were divorcing after allegations of drug use and cheating plagued the couple.

  (Evan Agostini / Associated Press)

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Grammy-winning rapper Kanye West is Kim Kardashian’s husband. He appeared on a few episodes of her reality series while she was with NBA player Kris Humphries because they were friends, but later took their friendship into romance territory.The couple welcomed daughter North West in June 2013 and are currently expecting their second child.

  (Zacharie Scheurer / Associated Press)

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Kris Humphries is an NBA player who married Kim Kardashian in 2011 after about six months of dating. The couple became infamous after they televised their elaborate nuptials, then ended their marriage after 72 days. Kardashian filed for divorce, but Humphries sought an annulment, and the two have battled in court for far longer than they were married.

  (Evan Agostini / Associated Press)

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Brody Jenner is one of Caitlyn Jenner’s four children from her second marriage. Brody has starred in MTV’s “The Hills,” in which he courted Lauren Conrad and later Kristin Cavallari, and his own short-lived series, “The Princes of Malibu.” He has also minimally appeared in early seasons of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” notably being called on by stepbro Rob Kardashian to babysit their half sisters Kylie and Kendall Jenner.

  (Chris Pizzello / Associated Press)

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Brandon Jenner, eldest son of Caitlyn Jenner and actress Linda Thompson, wed Leah Felder in May 2012. The couple comprises indie pop duo Brandon & Leah.

  (Imeh Akpanudosen / Getty Images for LUTB)

“This year, especially the last couple months, was so hectic that it was hard to arrange a full family shoot. Showing the kids alone seemed like the perfect thing to do,” a source told E! News, whose cable network airs the family’s reality series.

In the past, they’ve used separate shoots and Photoshop to get the whole gang together in the picture.

The family, which also includes newly transitioned Caitlyn Jenner, Khloe Kardashian, Rob Kardashian, model Kendall Jenner and social-media maven Kylie Jenner, did not release a holiday card last year.

They “ran out of time” to release the card in 2014, Kim previously said. But that was also around the time when the Jenners were finalizing their divorce after 22 years of marriage.

Previous iterations of the card have included Kim’s ex-husband Kris Humphries; Khloe’s husband, Lamar Odom, who has been hospitalized since October; and Kourtney’s on-off boyfriend Scott Disick, the father of her three kids.

Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.