Kelly Ripa Will Use a Photo from Her PEOPLE Beautiful Issue Shoot for Her Family Christmas Card

It’s only April, but Kelly Ripa already has her Christmas card all planned out.

During her chat with Ryan Seacrest on Wednesday’s Live! with Kelly and Ryan, the co-hosts talked about Ripa and her family being featured in PEOPLE’s 2019 Beautiful Issue, on newsstands Friday. After Seacrest, 44, showed off the spread to the studio audience, labeling them “the most beautiful family on earth,” Ripa spilled some behind-the-scenes secrets.

“Do you see how I’m too excited to be there? Like, I’m always the one that’s just too excited and too happy and I’ll tell you the reason why,” she began. “The people at PEOPLE — I thank them so much, I cannot tell you the joy and thrill that I had doing that with my kids, who all three agreed to do it. I never thought they would say yes, ever, ever. I never thought they would say yes.”

  • For more from Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos and other celebrity families, pick up The Beautiful Issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands this Friday

Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos, both 48, are parents to Michael, 21, Lola, 17, and Joaquin, 16. And while their parents are both stars, all three kids are “very historically not really in-front-of-the-camera people,” which made their participation in the shoot even more special, Ripa said. So, she’s planning on using one of the photos for this year’s Ripa-Consuelos Christmas card.

“I said, ‘May I, might I, be able to choose a photo to have as my Christmas card?’ — and they said yes,” she said. “So thank you PEOPLE, and that is why this is the look on my face on every photo.”

“This says, ‘Merry Christmas,’ right there,” Seacrest said. “I think it’s beautiful and it shows how close you guys are. Your mouth, your face says that you did it. You raised these great kids and you have this great family.”

“Nobody fought with each other [during the shoot],” Ripa added. “That’s very rare.”

From left: Michael Consuelos, Kelly Ripa, Lola Consuelos, Joaquin Consuelos and Mark Consuelos | Miller Mobley
From left: Michael Consuelos, Kelly Ripa, Lola Consuelos, Joaquin Consuelos and Mark Consuelos | Miller Mobley

Speaking to PEOPLE for the issue, Ripa and Consuelos said they’re proud of the way their children have remained immune to the artifice of stardom.

“It’s a cliché, but beauty is really something that comes from the inside,” Consuelos said. “And our kids get that.”

“They’ve been to enough photo shoots and been on Instagram long enough to know how much can be faked and filtered and altered and so they aren’t fooled by what a picture tells you you should look like,” Ripa added. “That’s not real beauty.”

Live! with Kelly and Ryan airs weekdays (check local listings).