December 14, 2008

Bad Santa

santa2008.jpg

My collection of bad Santa portraits grows. I couldn't be more pleased: 2007, 2006, 2005.


posted at 04:48 AM by raul

Filed under: on kids

TAGS: bad santa (2) portrait (3) santa (4)

Comments:

12/14/08 11:54 AM

Yeah...there appears to be some uneasiness here. What makes this one a keeper is his brothers expression of "I'm all grown up and know better. This guy, as scary as he looks, brings me cool stuff once a year for some reason. "

12/14/08 12:28 PM

12/14/08 09:38 PM

I did not have Santa growing up in Japan and wonder whether I should subject my daughter to this strange American ritual, but there is something so funny about the pictures!

12/15/08 05:35 AM

literally just LOL'd. rather loudly in fact.

12/15/08 12:09 PM

Raul,
I've been following your writings now for almost a year, and I don't think I've commented before, but I just wanted to say that I love this blog. All posts from professional to personal are insightful, interesting and oftentimes hilarious.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and good tidings for the new year.
Chase

12/15/08 12:42 PM

Saw your wife's shirts on babble and found my way here. They have a feature on Bad Santa pictures today. Conspiracy?! If so, it's one I like. These are so hysterical. This one made me LOL loudly. Also 2005 is a real classic.

http://babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/default.aspx#156119


12/15/08 12:50 PM

A hand accident. Looks like they ran into each other at a particularly bad south continental intersection.

I was going to look for my boy's santa pics today, oddly enough...now that mine are ten and thirteen Santa has become one of those sarcastic oddities...fuck innocence, it's over rated...anyway....'but when I move to Jonestown I am starting my own "Dear Leader" holiday...Santa Clown or rather....that ought to scare the kids already....

12/15/08 02:48 PM

This time of year I am struck by the mixed messages we give our children. On the one hand- be alert with strangers and don't let them touch you and on the other- here sit on this strange man's lap. I think the children's dismay reflects this, until they grow up enough to mask their true instincts. But perhaps I am just a Grinch.

12/15/08 06:12 PM

We have set of family picture books of Santa pictures going all the way back to the early 1920's starting with my great-grandfather with Santa at a five&dime in Laredo.The books are a prized weird family history covering my grandparents large family and scores of grandkids. We have a fair number of "bad santa" pictures and those are the ones we love the most. There is one of my dad's sister just about to bite Santa and another one of I love of a cowboyish looking santa with a black mustache, and my favorite, one of me with my arms crossed looking pissed out of my mind. My brother runs a photo studio. He's seen his share of bad kid pictures and his theory is that it isn't about Santa santa at all. Sure the guy in the red suit might add to the anxiety, but the bigger anxiety is being let go by momma stuck in front of a camera and lights. The tears happen even if the kid is alone and there is no santa there.

12/15/08 06:25 PM

@carlos I partially agree... just being left alone even a few feet away from a parent is pretty stressful for a little kid. But you have to admit the beard, the red pajamas, the whole thing is a bit freaky to any kid with his sense about him.

I didn't attend the santa photo above or the one in 2005 where my first son is bawling... Those are the work of grandparents. I'm a soft touch and would have pulled my kid out at the first sign of tears. Still I do love the pictures and hope to bring them out at my son's weddings some day.

I have a few bad santa pictures myself somewhere but the ones I remember are actually from a few years later where the whole Santa thing was more mysterious and fun. Even when I knew that our local Lufkin, Texas Santa was actually the mayor of the next town over (an old ship's captain who always smelled of Jack Daniels) I liked to believe for a few minutes that he might be the real deal and that he might get me that purple banana bike I had my heart set on.

02/09/09 06:01 PM

Love your growing collection! We have a website called www.ScreamingSanta.com designed especially for bad Santa Photos, and would love it if you would post your photos on our site!

Cheers!

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