An awkward photo races to be … well, awkward
UPDATE: The Burkhard's card took second in the final tally.
BRUSH PRAIRIE, Wash. – The simple joy of sending Christmas cards to friends and family turned into a race to win an online photo contest for one local family.
Kristin and Scott Burckhard’s Christmas card of their family this year was so outrageous they were in a neck-and-neck fight to be awarded The Most Awkward Family Photo in America Tuesday night.
The Burckhards send out a silly card every Christmas, but this year’s got such a laugh, Kristin entered it in a contest at AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com.
“I said, ‘We better do it this year before the kids get too embarrassed’,” she said.
The card features the couple’s children – Ainsley and Thomas – and Kristin strategically posed before an apparently naked Scott.
“I called it ‘Christmas Pajamas,’” said Kristin. “And when they posted our picture, the caption had been changed to ‘White Christmas,’ which kind of offended my husband. I told him, ‘Well, there’s a whole lot of white in that picture.’”
“I’m assuming they’re speaking of my beautiful pigment,” said Scott, who was away on business and was interviewed via Skype with at least no shirt on.
Tens of thousands of people have now seen the family’s photo online and voted for it to be The Most Awkward Family Photo in America.
The contest ended midnight Dec. 21 and the Burckhards’ photo placed a strong second with nearly 18,000 votes. But another photo called “Birdie” had racked up more than 32,000. That photo features a conservative-looking family posing normally, but the boy in the photo is nonchalantly flashing “The Bird.”
As to the question to whether Scott was actually nude in the photo, Kristin said, “A good wife never tells, right?”
Scott was a bit more “revealing” on the topic, however.
“I know Kristin wouldn’t tell you, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable having my kids there without wearing a little bit,” he said. “And not only that, but should one of the kids had shifted during the picture, we didn’t want to expose too much to our friends and family.”
Some of the commenters on the contest’s website thought the picture was “creepy.”
This year’s photo may be impossible to top so the Burckhards are thinking about shooting a more strait-laced photo next year just to throw everyone off.