Web Spy: Sketchy Santas

There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, Zappos, Kaboodle…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there. And more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.

By Laura

Santa photos are a holiday tradition in many families, including mine.  And I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t remember ever liking the process of getting my picture taken with that weird old guy.  Most of my memories of those experiences fall into one of two categories: when I was younger, fear, because I thought it was the real Santa and I was afraid he knew all the bad things I’d done; and when I was a little older, complete paranoia that someone I know might be walking though the mall and see me standing in line. And every Christmas, I’m forced to re-live those memories when my mom unpacks her collection of framed Santa portraits from her boxes of Christmas decorations and displays them proudly on the wall of our living room.

I bet she wouldn’t be so nostalgic if she remembered she practically forced my sister and I into those matching outfits and dragged us to the minivan to go take those terrible pictures.  In fact, it wasn’t until my sister and I were old enough to fight back and actually run away from the van that the Santa pictures ended.

So when somebody told me about the website SketchySantas.com, a blog showcasing terrible Santa portraits, specifically those with creepy-looking Santas, I wasn’t sure what to think about it. The mere thought of the Santa photo brought back painful memories of corduroy, giant bows and waiting for an hour to sit on some man’s lap. But then I looked. And I laughed so hard I cried.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was living someone else’s painful memories instead of my own, but I couldn’t stop. And then I couldn’t breathe.

I mean, really, how does this not make you pee your pants a little?

To top it all off, the site also sells “Sketchy Greetings” holiday cards that I’m seriously considering buying for next year.

If you’re burnt out from all that studying for finals and holiday stress, Sketchy Santas is definitely the perfect dose of humor you need to soothe your over-worked and over-shopped brain. I imagine it will also come in handy after you’ve opened your gifts on Friday and there is nothing else to do. All day. And your annoying cousins are running around the house pulling people’s hair.

Enjoy!