Abdoulaye Faye looked to have put the Potters on course for their first away victory of the season, before Carlton Cole levelled and, after Ricardo Fuller was sensationally sent off for cuffing his own captain, Spaniard Diego Tristan snatched the winner with his first-ever Premier League goal.
Following Friday's fantastic 4-1 win at Portsmouth, the Hammers had made four changes as James Collins, Luis Boa Morte, Julien Faubert and David Di Michele replaced Calum Davenport, Mark Noble (virus), Lucas Neill (ankle) and the suspended Craig Bellamy.
But Boxing Day form quickly went out of the window as West Ham quickly soon discovered to their cost.
After being beaten by a late winner from controversial ex-Hammer, Carlos Tevez, Stoke had made two switches from the side that lost to Manchester United 48 hours earlier, as Andy Griffin came in for the banned Andy Wilkinson, while Seyi Olofinjana replaced Amdy Faye.
The Potters might have lost one Faye but they still had another one in their ranks and, indeed, with just five minutes on the clock, the unmarked Abdoulaye Faye put them ahead, when he drifted away from Collins and met Danny Pugh's deep corner with an unstoppable header.
And that early opener was to prove the catalyst for a first-half full of festive frustration against Tony Pulis' 18th-placed side, who had arrived at Upton Park with the worst away record in the Premier League.
Cole, Di Michele and Matthew Upson each had good chances to level from close range, before the grateful Robert Green prevented the Potters from doubling their lead, when Richard Cresswell's deflected shot looped awkwardly towards goal and then Rory Delap sent a bullet header across the face of goal.
With Stoke defending deeply and trying to run down the clock at every available opportunity, rookie referee Mike Jones did not help the mood by dishing out four late Christmas cards of his own to Cole, Boa Morte and Di Michele and Olofinjana.
The ice-cold claret and blue fans amongst the crowd of 34,477 could not see where a home goal was coming from, but then the Potters pressed the self-destruct button in dramatic fashion.
On 52 minutes, Scott Parker's chip forward found Cole, who got the better of the tumbling Griffin and, as the Stoke skipper languished on his backside, the Hammers' striker spun and lashed a curling 12-yarder wide of Thomas Sorensen's outstretched left palm.
But while the Eastenders were rejoicing, Fuller was raging and as the teams prepared to kick-off the potty Potters' striker stupidly slapped his captain around the face and was dismissed.
Shortly afterwards, Pulis threw a consoling arm around Griffin (calf) as he withdrew his injured skipper in favour of Andrew Davies, but by no, ten-man Stoke were a broken team.
Faubert struck the bar and then midway through the half, Boa Morte prodded goalwards under pressure from Faye, but with Sorensen beaten, Danny Higginbotham heroically hooked the bobbling ball off the line with just an inch to spare.
By now, Fuller was sitting on the team coach but it was only a matter of time until Stoke were made to pay for his earlier moment of madness.
Sure enough when Di Michele invited Cole to shoot goalwards with just two minutes remaining, the ball deflected off substitute Tristan's shin to give West Ham three scrappy points.