A couple of days ago I came across this article that had a number of family holiday photos that were awkward, strange and funny. (Please take a look at them and come back.)
I was talking to my friend, Manshu, about them and I said, “you know what, I think I have some somewhat similar photos – I’m going to search for them and post them if I locate them.
When I was a kid my grandmother used to make all of the female family members matching nightgowns and would make us put them on and pose for a photo. That was the one I was hoping to find but it must be in my Mother’s stuff, which is currently stored at my brother’s house.
But fear not, I did locate a couple of gems.
The Photos
1978 – This is me, my cousin and my brother dressed up like elves. I decided we would wear red and green, I made the hats, and it was our job to distribute gifts. I am the only one who looks happy. Where are my pants? And it’s a Polaroid – those must have been the height of technology around 1978.
1996 – Me, my Mom and my brother Dylan. You just gotta love my Vermont “Web” Site shirt, which must have been a gift, the Santa hat, and the Snowman sweater. My brother is allowed to slide because he was only 10 and Christmas is his birthday.
1979 – Me, my Mom, my Dad, and my brother John. This isn’t a Christmas photo but it was around Christmas because we went to visit relatives in Arizona that year and took a trip to Nogales, Mexico, which is a border town. Again, I’m the only one that looks happy. Maybe my Mom is jealous because everyone is wearing has a sombrero but her. But, maybe she didn’t want to mess up her Dorothy Hamill haircut. My daughter asked if it was a real donkey- unfortunately, it is.
It’s fun to laugh at the collection of awkward family photos that we find online but I’m pretty sure we all have something similar. Or maybe it was something about the 70’s and early 80’s ;-)
haha, so you finally did find these photos! The first one is my fav by far. You look great in all of them and I’m sure I have a few like these too but not with me here!
Thanks for the post inspiration! Next summer when I’m visiting VT I’m going to make a point to dig up some more. My cousin is looking for some photos too ;-)
My mother made us all matching Pjs and robes so we would look good for pictures, which we sent to my Grandparents who lived so far away.
But I do not know where any of those pictures are…what my mother kept is a couple of albums of houses she lived in over her life time…and she did not write on them so we no longer know who anyone is…
what to do with old pictures….I am wanting to be more Japanese, but I do not have a scanner… 15 photo albums of my children and then 16 CDs I have slowly scanned in a few at a time… and then all the pictures on my external drive. Will people really want them?
I did like this post and seeing you grow and change :) NIce job
Hi Patricia – My grandfather insisted on writing the names of the people in the photo and the date and my Mom and I picked up on that habit. I am SO glad – you think you will remember but then you don’t. And I have some really old photos that don’t say and I have no idea who the people are or when it was taken. I care about them from a family history sense but I don’t know how long people will want the photos. My Mom had a ton of photos that I need to go through – it’s been almost 3 years since she passed away and other than moving some of her stuff around we haven’t really gone through it. And even though I would like the photos I’m a little resistant to bringing more things into the house when I am always trying to get rid of stuff.
It’s a good feeling to rememb the old days.. we have many old pics from my our childhood and my bro posted it on fb and tagging our cousins. We had a great chat and we laugh out loud talking the old days.
Usually, I would think a person would want to discard all the awkward photos of themselves, but imagine the laughs if you were to save them for a few years and then look back at them. :-)
Now with digital photos it’s much easier to immediately delete awkward photos. When I was a kid you had to bring in the film and wait a week to get the photos – you never really knew what you were going to get and it was kind of fun. I think we were less likely to destroy them unless they were really hideous.
Those are nice photos Kim, nothing awkward about them :) I just love these retro photos…
Hi Ajith – Thanks! I’m planning on digging out some more this summer when I’m in Vermont.
These are great photos. Thanks so much for sharing them. Looks like you had a good time on your Mexico trip. I would love to go there someday. Look forward to seeing more of your pictures if you are able to locate some more to share.