"Stop telling me I shouldn't be getting a Santa photo with my dog."

Christmas should be a happy time where presents are bought, and mince pies are consumed. It is a time where tinsel, baubles and holly line the beams of every workplace, shopping centre, and public street pole, because ’tis the season goddamnit.

And yet, there is a divide. People are fighting, and hurtful comments are being shouted from the rooftops where festive bunting once hung, and all because of this one, all-consuming issue.

Is it OK to take your pets to get a Santa photo?

This all started when one Mamamia Deputy Editor – Valentina Todoroska announced that she was going to take her beloved sausage dog Maple to PetO to get her first Christmas photo, and people were not in agreement.

You see the nay-sayers (AKA the Grinches) argue that it’s cruel – probably somewhere in the same vein of tackling your beloved toy poodle into a Kmart shark costume. You’re taking away their autonomy, they don’t like it, you’re forking out upwards of $50+ for a photo that you won’t care about in three months, and yet…

This.

They match, it’s adorable, and nobody can tell me otherwise.

The topic has also got the Mamamia Out Loud girls talking. Holly Wainwright says it’s a waste of money (Grinch), Mia Freedman is generally against putting children on the laps of “strange men with fake beards” (fair), but as one Jessie Stephens’ says, “dogs doing human things is one of life’s greatest joys,” and in a world where people don’t always do nice things, an orange tyrant is president, and Christmas is stressful, why can’t we just have this one? Why?

LISTEN: The Mamamia Out Loud team talk pet photos, and it gets a bit heated. Post continues after audio.

Well, I for one cannot wait to get my dogs their photo with Santa.

It’s important, because they too have presents to ask for, have been very good, and are looking forward to treats as a reward.

Oh, and having them pose next to Santa in Christmas costumes is quite literally my idea of heaven. It’s… ridiculous.

Because it’s a fact that nothing so adorable could ever be bad. So get your baubles out for Christmas, and click through this gallery of adorable Santa pet photos.

LISTEN: Here’s what women are talking about this week.