Chernack Doug - Awkward Family Holiday Photos

Copyright 2013 by Awkward Family, LLC

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
www.crownpublishing.com

Three Rivers Press and the Tugboat design are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bender, Mike.
Awkward family holiday photos / Mike Bender and Doug Chernack. First edition.
p. cm
1. HolidaysHumor. 2. FestivalsHumor. 3. Portrait photographyHumor. I. Chernack, Doug. II. Title.
PN6231.H547B46 2013
818.602dc23 2013020383

eBook ISBN: 978-0-307-88814-3
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-0-307-88813-6

Book design by Maria Elias
Cover design by Nupoor Gordon
(based on original design by Daniel Rembert)
Cover photographs (clockwise from left):
Rhett Lowry, Josh L. Crump, anonymous

v3.1

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This book is dedicated to all the family members we never see except during the holidays.

We may not always remember your names, but it doesnt mean we dont enjoy your company.

T hroughout the year, we take time out to recognize those momentous occasions known as holidays. While each holiday is tied to its own unique customs and traditions, all of them share one thing in common. They are a time for the whole family to come together to eat, drink, and, of course, pose for uncomfortable photographs. From Moms homemade Halloween costumes to re-creating a nativity scene for the Christmas card to that overly patriotic uncle who literally wears the flag on the Fourth, holidays are a treasure trove of embarrassing moments. So, with this book, we celebrate the holidays and the awkwardness that bonds us togethermatching sweaters and all.

From the time we launched AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com back in May 2009, holiday photos have always been among the most popular and most shared. While we included a holiday chapter in the first Awkward Family Photos book in April 2010, it only scratched the surface. What about the photos of kids being stuffed into pumpkins, depressed Easter bunnies, and families receiving the ultimate Christmas gifta stripper pole? Yes, these holiday gems needed a place to be memorialized.

As always, this book features popular pictures and captions from the website and also exclusive never-before-seen photos, special features, and behind the awkwardness stories from the people themselves. We want to thank all of those amazing families who eagerly send in their most cringe-worthy festive moments year-round. Because of you, every day is a holiday now.

Mike Bender and Doug Chernack
www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com

O n February 14, its not enough for us to simply tell our significant others I love you. Instead, were compelled by the romantic pressure of the holiday to prove itusually with over-the-top demonstrations of passion, which may make our loved ones swoon but in all likelihood make everyone else around us cringe. The idea of matching outfits suddenly seems like a great way to show our compatibility, so we eat breakfast in heart-covered pajamas, but this willingness to embarrass ourselves for amour is what makes our Valentines Days truly romantic. We dont want to profess our love to our partners with just the same old clichs of chocolates, roses, and cards; we want to do something spectacular. And if we have to look a little awkward while doing so, its worth it.

Now all she needed was a Valentine.

Love is blind.

Youll have to forgive her shes been burned before.

Their love was lifting him higher.

BEHIND THE AWKWARDNESS

My parents were attending a Valentines Day banquet at church in 1988. They won a gift basket that included a two-night romantic getaway dont let the buttoned-up outfits fool you, because nine months later I was born.

Grace
Hitchcock, Texas