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Knitted sweaters, questionable Santas, and a sock-full of mandarins. Ah, Christmas. The only thing missing now is a photo that captures all of the chaos.
Awkward Family Photos is a friendly place online where everyone can come together and share their uncomfortable family moments. Mike Bender and Doug Chernack started the project by posting a few childhood photos of their own, and the site quickly took off and became an Internet sensation.
Bored Panda covered Awkward Family Photos some time ago but since the holiday season is just around the corner, let's not forget what matters at this time of year—laughing at yourself and your loved ones. Oh, and cherishing the memories you shared, of course.
More info: awkwardfamilyphotos.com | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
My Uncle, Comforting My Father After Breaking A Toy On Christmas Morning, 1969. That’s Brotherly Love
Bender said that holidays really do mean more awkward shots. "Families are more likely to get together and take photos," he told Bored Panda. "Plus, a lot of families have holiday traditions like dressing up in matching outfits which always leads to [even more] awkwardness."
But Bender said there are other occasions that produce these pictures too. Like birthdays. Someone will undoubtedly capture the kids in their most (you guessed it) awkward stages of life. And weddings. "You are bringing together not just one awkward family but two and generally, people are intoxicated and I don't think I have to explain how that can get weird," he pointed out. Lastly, he mentioned hospital delivery photos. The mothers never seem as enthusiastic about taking pictures as the dads!
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#2
We Were Taking Our Family Christmas Photo, And Let’s Just Say The Dogs Weren’t In A Holly Jolly Mood. This Photo Was The Worst Of The Batch, But Now It’s A Conversation Starter. We Keep It Right By The Entrance Of Our Home Here In St. Louis
"The pandemic has brought all families closer together. We're spending more time with each other and so we're also taking more photos. Also, we truly can't get away from our family when we're in quarantine so that ensures lots of awkward moments. As far as Christmas, we like to say it's the most awkward time of the year and the gift that keeps on giving."
#3
The Only Baby Picture I Have. Why?
#4
Being In A Family With Five Children, You Hardly Ever Get A Great Photo With All The Kids. 27 Years Later My Sister Decided We Should Reenact This Photo On The One Day A Year We All Get Together
#5
Christmas 2009. We Went To The Mall To Take A Picture With Santa And Seemingly Nothing Went Wrong… My Son Didn’t Cry, The Line Was Manageable But Santa’s Attention Was Focused Elsewhere
#6
My Boss, Who Has 6 Kids, Captured Every Sibling Dynamic Possible In One Photo
#7
The Infamous Christmas Photo Shoot Of 1984. Dad’s Short-Shorts And High Socks Highlighted His Fashion-Forward Attitude And Athleticism; My Sister’s Cheerleading Perfection Revealed Her Vow To Never Look Bad In Any Photo- Ever, And My Single Jazz Hand Stance Complete This Awkward Family Christmas Card From Over 30 Years Ago
#8
This Was The Picture That My Family Sent Out As Our Family Christmas Card Back In '91
#9
This Is The Photo My Grandmother Sent Out As Her X-Mas Card In The Early 70s
She didn’t like my dad’s not-smiling face so she cut out one from a different picture, pasted it in place and sent it to the printers. Note the glue on my dad’s face where grandma had attempted to affix the smiling face before it shifted during printing. Still one of the funniest things ever sent to more than 200 friends and family
#10
Merry Christmas From Your Friendly, Neighborhood Mall Goths, 2005
#11
Our Aunt Helen Made These For The Three Of Us And While I Know She Worked Very Hard On Them, I Was Mortified. That’s Me On The Left. I’m Smiling But My Eyes Are Red From Crying Because I Didn’t Want To Wear It. The Compromise Was That I Didn’t Have To Wear The Bonnet. I Don’t Have Much Of A Fashion Sense But Even Then, At A Tender Young Age, I Knew This Was Wrong, Very Wrong
#12
My Dad On Christmas Morning
#13
My Memories Of Meeting Santa Are Fond Ones. I Came Across This Pic, However, And Was Startled By The Look On This Particular Santa’s Face. He Looks A Little Less Interested In What I Want For Christmas, And A Little More Interested In How I’d Taste In A Stew
#14
Christmas Was Scary In Yugoslavia
#15
My Dad Built This To Protect The Tree From The Cat
#16
We Took The Kids To Take Pictures With Santa. Needless To Say We Were Shocked As We Scrolled Through The Photos And Saw Our Daughter’s Middle Finger Up With Her Head Turned And Smiling
#17
We Were Trying To Create A Winter Wonderland Scene And Save Money By Shooting Our Own Picture. We Ended Up With Almost 90 Photos That All Looked Like This, So We Just Went With It And This Year I Got Actual Requests To Post This Card
#18
Our Photographer Sent Us All The Images From Our Holiday Photo Session Including This One And I Love It
#19
Mom, There’s A Reason There Wasn’t A Line To See This Santa…
#20
The Moment My Mom Realized I Was Going To Be A Handful
#21
I Tried To Get Some Christmas Card Photos With My Boys This Year. My 5 Year Old Was Not Having It And Refused To Cooperate (Look Under The Sign). But This One Took The Cake For Me Since The Baby Is Puking As Well
#22
This Is The 2006 Christmas Card Photo That We Sent Out, With Our 6-Year-Old English Bulldog, Joan
#23
This Is A Picture Of Me And My Dad At Christmas Time. Dad Was Smoking A Cigarette And Reading
#24
This Is A Picture Of My Dad And Uncles Sitting With Santa. My Uncle Tex Is The Youngest Who Was Clearly A Bit Nervous
Petra Christovová 4 years ago
Uncle Tex must be really happy that this photo made it to the internet :/
#25
The Year My Father Got My Mother A Hoover For Christmas, 1984
#26
Every Romanian Child's Christmas Summed Up In One Picture
earringnut 4 years ago
I now understand why children would willingly go into the forest with slenderman.
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Lynne Stankard 4 years ago
Good God - do all children in Romania have to suffer this??????????????????
The Hufflepuff Bookworm 4 years ago
I have a friend who's parents are Romanian and she was talking about their santas and I didnt believe her u till seeing this picture!
Polly Culberson 4 years ago
Those are some scary Santa masks, unless that ISN'T a mask, then it's even worse.
Carmen Flores 4 years ago
What on earth??!! What happened to the jolly man in red..Hope there was a cure for that!
Kimberley Thomas 4 years ago
I thought Santa was a bad statue, but seeing that it's actually human, it looks like a bad makeup job. Or is it high or stuffed?
#27
My Sister And I Thought It Might Be A Good Idea To Have Our Kids’ Photos Taken As A Christmas Present For My Mom. With Two Hungry, Tired Newborn Babies And A Bored 3 Year Old, It Was Quite Possibly The Worst Day Of Our Lives. This Was The Best Pic We Could Get Of All Three Of Them
#28
Just A Good Old Holiday Pic With An Innocent Little 4-Year-Old, A Creepy Santa And A Scantily Dressed Miss Piggy! Even More Disturbing, Why Does The Costume Even Have Those Body Parts Sewn On?!
#29
This Is A Picture Of Me Around Age 3 Or 4, Meeting St. Nicolas Himself In Poland. This Would Explain My Fear Of Clowns
#30
This Was Supposed To Be Our Christmas Card. It Turns Out She Just Hated That Sweater
#31
My Boyfriend When He Was 3. The Ussr Was A Strange Time
Andrew Gibb 4 years ago
there is a Russian Winnie the Pooh as well called Vinni Pukh vinni_pukh...d6bb08.jpg 
#32
Most Awkward Pajama Pics!
#33
Our Awkward Family Swim Team Christmas Photo
Loki’s Lil Butter Knife 4 years ago
I just noticed that they decorated the tree with all of their racing ribbons.
#34
Me And My Parents, December 1992
#35
Christmas In Frankfurt, Germany, 1998. My Grandma Knitted Sweaters For My Granddad, Cousin, Brother And Me
#36
The Holidays Are The Cringiest Time Of The Year!
#37
One Year Old Me, Santa In Furry Slippers And The Most Disturbing And Scary Befana Ever. Italy, 1996 (In Italy The Befana Is Supposed To Be An Old, Kind Woman Who Deliver Gifts To Kids On Epiphany Eve
#38
This Photo Is From Azerbaijan Which Is Old Ussr Country. I Was 6 Years Old In This Last Day Of 1999. It Is Nice To See How East And West Meld In One Photograph
#39
Christmas Sometime In The Early/Mid 90s And This Is Me And My Two Sisters. My Neighbor Worked For Marlboro Cigarettes And My Mother Decided That Since Their Company Sweatshirts Were Red, We Should All Wear Them For Our Christmas Pictures
#40
So Many Amazing Things About This Picture. I Am The Beauty With The Middle Part Bangs Accompanied By My Life Size Barbie. My Mom Is Clearly Feeling What Every Mother On Christmas Feels While My Dad Is 90’s Fabulous
#41
When I Was A Kid, My Mom, Who Is A Seamstress, Would Make Funky Gifts Every Year For Christmas. Sometime In The Late 80s, She Got Her Hands On Some Giant Men’s Underwear And Made Sports Bra’s Out Of Them. Hence, My Two Aunts And Grandma Modeling Them On Christmas Eve
#42
My Husband's Coworker When She Was A Kid
#43
Christmas Morning, And Everybody Except Young Tim (Middle) Gets A New Bike. We As Parents Should Have Anticipated The Reaction
#44
The Santa Display Was Sad, And Santa Looks Even Sadder. I Found This Pic Of Me With Santa And Couldn’t Help But Notice The Surroundings And His Miserable Look
E Menendez 4 years ago
This looks like a pharmacy... I some how do not feel this was a legit Santa but some dude in Walgreens or CVS trying to get kids to sit on his lap...
#45
I Refused To Sit On Its Lap
#46
Me And Another Small Town Goth Going Dancing At A Winter Formal
#47
My Brother And Me, Circa 1977, With The Credit Union Santa And His Creepy Bear Sidekick
#48
This Picture Was Taken In About 1952. The Boy Sitting On The Lap Of ‘Santa’ Is My Husband’s Cousin, Teddy. ‘Santa’ Is ‘Uncle Bob’ Who Apparently Didn’t Notice That His Mask Was Melting Off. My Husband Thankfully Doesn’t Remember Any Of This. No Word If Little Teddy Ever Recovered From The Trauma
#49
Christmas 1998. I'm The One Crying
#50
My Mom Took My Brother, Sister And I To The Mall To Get A “Nice” Santa Photo Taken. When She Picked Up The Photo, She Was Outraged
By the way, if your Christmas shopping isn't done yet, but you are running out of ideas, consider the latest book Awkward Family Photos which has just been released. It's an old school search-and-find puzzle for immature adults and makes the perfect stocking stuffer. It's also available anywhere in the world!
#51
We Dug This Gem Up Recently. None Of Us Realized How Creepy The Santa Was Except Our Baby Sister. We Still Aren’t Sure Where The Camera Actually Was
#52
That’s Me, My Brother, My Cousin, And Aunt And Uncle. Oh, And All The Lizards
#53
The Santaland Budget In My Hometown Was Busted In 1967. This Creepy Santa Was In A Makeshift Trailer. I Tried Not To Touch Him When I Sat In His Lap
#54
I Was Angry Because I Didn't Get To Sit On Santa's Lap. My Sisters Had Mixed Feelings About This Privilege. Meanwhile, Santa Was Dead Inside
Jitka Svobodová 4 years ago
But you can see the triumph in the other sister's eyes, so at least something positive
#55
This Is My Ex-Boyfriend’s Family. C.1964. He And His Twin Brother And Sisters And Dad Are “Enjoying” Santa’s Visit. They Lived In Red Lodge, Montana In The Day, So Perhaps A More Realistic St. Nick Was Hard To Come By
#56
Me (Left), My Cousin And My Sister Got Identical Jogging Suites And Fanny Packs From Our Grandmother For Christmas 1991. We Already Had Identical Hair Cuts. My Cousin Is Forcing My Sister To Smile By Pinching My Sisters Hand
Andrew Gibb 4 years ago
these were called bum bags in the UK. F***y pack means something else.
#57
There Will Be No More Christmas For Me
#58
The Day I Was Forced To Stand In Front Of The Fireplace And Wear This Outfit, Which Was Basically An Itchy, Velveteen, Oversized Wrapped Christmas Present Costume With A Too-Tight Lace Collar That Wildly Triggered My Claustrophobia And Tactile-Sensory Ocd
#59
This Was 1969 Or 1970. I Think The Masked Santa Was My Great Uncle Louie. He Liked His Beer. I Don’t Have An Explanation For Why My Parents Thought This Was Okay
#60
My Mother Always Dressed My Brothers And I Alike, But One Christmas, She Made Everyone Do It. This Is The Result. I’m The One Who Is Not Smiling Because I’m Pretty Sure I Just Received A “Talking To” For My Objection To The Madness
#61
So About 5 Years Ago I Ran An Ad On Facebook Asking For An Inexpensive Photographer To Come To My House. I Had Just Had A New Baby And Wanted Some Photos Of The Children. He Came And It Was A Mess From The Start. Here’s Just A Few Of The Many Awkward Photos I Got Back From This Man. You Get What You Pay For
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What do you think ?
Dorothy Cloud 4 years ago
Thank Goodness I never took my kids to a Santa Photo. My Mom also had a good sense of what not to do also.
cassiushumanmother 4 years ago
I invented the social distancing christmas in 1990, grandparents feet on the background. "Best gift ever i would stay in my bubble!" noel-90-5f...f2feab.jpg 
Dorothy Cloud 4 years ago
Thank Goodness I never took my kids to a Santa Photo. My Mom also had a good sense of what not to do also.
cassiushumanmother 4 years ago
I invented the social distancing christmas in 1990, grandparents feet on the background. "Best gift ever i would stay in my bubble!" noel-90-5f...f2feab.jpg
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