It’s that time of year again! You think I’m talking about when the air starts to feel crisp, while Christmas carols fill your iPod, and twinkling lights sparkle on every street corner. Well you’re wrong. It’s time for your mailbox to become the welcome mat for those terrifying cards featuring families decked out in bedazzled sweaters with a fireplace backdrop, white button downs and jeans placed in a beach scene, and children creepily smiling in the snow.
The horror
Why do families year after year decide that a note detailing their “hectic year” accompanied by an 8×10 photo reading “Happy Holidays from the Morgans!” is something everyone wants to come upon while flipping through the day’s mail? It’s always nice hearing from an old friend, or a cousin living 500 miles away, but a simple card with a less frightening picture of, let’s say a deer with sprigs of holy entwined in its antlers, may be more appropriate. Just imagine how many laughs are shared between photo developers at Walgreens when these masterpieces are brought to their counter. Ballpark figure: a ton.
Holiday Traditions
Somehow along with throwing tinsel on a pine, baking cookies, and buying mounds of gift-wrap, awkward family photos managed to make it into the holiday season. Grandma and Grandpa may be the only people that appreciate a photo of their grandchildren posed with arms around each other wearing nothing but red plaid onesies. However, twenty years from now when these seemingly charming annual photos cover their refrigerator a wall of shame becomes displayed in your honor. So why do we continue to create embarrassing photos that will haunt us in years to come?
Hello World
Thankfully the Internet and social media markets have caught on to how hilarious these photos can be. Need a laugh at the expense of a family of six wearing emerald green taffeta? AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com can fill that void. Ellen Degeneres has even added a segment to her show known as “Bad Paid-For Photos”, and now the pets also have some recognition…. lucky them.
What’s the best outfit you’ve seen or worn for a Holiday card?
