Duggars Hide Joy-Anna"s Baby Bump, Put Josh on Display in Bizarre Christmas Photo

It’s no surprise that the Duggar family loves Christmas.

Of course, they don’t celebrate the holiday the way that most Americans do.

As with just about everything else they do, the Duggars keep the focus on their religious beliefs, eschewing customary traditions and designing their festivities as a “birthday party for Jesus.”

But while they’ve been vocal in their criticism of the consumerism that they feel distracts from the religious significance of the season, the Duggars allow for some traditional celebrations.

They exchange gifts, enjoy a big family meal, and pose for an annual Christmas photo.

Of course, that last part doesn’t necessarily take place during the Christmas season.

As you can see in the photo below, it looks as though the Duggars posed for their yearly pic in the warmer months.

Aside from the weather, there are other indications that the photo is not a very recent one.

Josh and Anna Duggar welcomed a fifth child back in September, and as many fans have pointed out, the baby is nowhere to be seen in this year’s Christmas photo.

Of course, most of the fans who posted Josh-related comments were less concerned about the absence of his youngest child and more angry with the fact that he was included in the photo at all.

In the immediate wake of the Josh Duggar sex scandals, the disgraced former lobbyist was seldom seen on his family’s social media pages.

These days, he makes frequent appearances on the Duggar’s official Facebook, and many are concerned that that’s a sign of what’s to come.

But not everyone who dissected the movie under a magnifying glass took issue with the inclusion of Josh.

No, some focused on Joy-Anna Duggar and the way she’s positioned in the shot.

As you’ve likely heard by now Joy-Anna is pregnant with her first child, and there’s some debate as to how far along she is.

Joy says she got pregnant on her honeymoon, but many believe she actually got knocked up prior to marrying Austin Forsyth back in May.

If that’s the case, it would mean that Joy and Austin violated the Duggar’s famous rules of courtship.

The family’s efforts to remove Joy from the public eye and hide her baby bump in photos has only fueled speculation that the 20-year-old newlywed is misleading fans.

And then there’s the matter of Derick Dillard.

Dillard was recently fired by TLC after launching a homophoboic tirade against fellow network star Jazz Jennings on Twitter.

Many feel that Derick should be removed not only from the show, but from all Duggar-related media.

Clearly, the Duggars themselves disagree.

Yes, these days the Duggars can’t even post a Christmas photo without sparking numerous debates on social media.

It’s all in a day’s work for the ultra-conservative clan.

Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial family.

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Jill Duggar & Derick Dillard: Criticized For PDA at Joy-Anna"s Wedding

Derick Dillard is making quite a name for himself these days.

Not satisfied to play second fiddle to his spouse like the other Duggar in-laws, Derick is currently in the process of rebranding himself as a right-wing firebrand with God on his side and an arsenal of hot takes at the ready.

Name an issue, and Derick’s got an opinion.

Not only that, it’ll be an opinion that’s sure to trigger the cuck-flakes into oblivion.

Transgender people?

A myth orchestrated by the lame-stream media or a pernicious threat to your children’s safety (depending on how pissed off Der is feeling that day).

National anthem protests? Ha! Racism doesn’t exist in America, folks.

And Derick would know. His best friend met a black guy once.

D-Dill has clearly set his sights on becoming the Tomi Lahren of the evangelical set, and he’ll let nothing stop him from reaching his goal.

(Including the fact that he ain’t much for your fancy book learnin’.)

Of course, the man has a hard road ahead of him.

The “far-right fringe group mouthpiece” market is over-saturated these days, and Derick is not blonde and pretty, nor is he built like a former high school football player who developed an unfortunate addiction to fried cheese products in middle age.

So employment at Fox News is out of the question.

Sure, Derick has a decent social media following, but these days, you have to go the extra mile to really stand out, especially when you come from a clan the size of the Duggars.

Fortunately, Derick is willing to do what he has to do to set himself apart from the madding crowd of his wife’s family:

The above photo was taken at the recent wedding of Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth.

As you can see, it appears Derick and Jill decided to lip-lock at the exact second the shutter button clicked.

It’s their way of donning the proverbial red-and-white striped hat and sweater in the “Where’s Waldo” cartoon that is every Duggar family photo.

Fans took notice of the attention-grabbing stunt and were quick to call the Dillards out in the comments:

“Trust Jill and Derick to try and take over the scene. They couldn’t just blend in, they have to smooch,” wrote one Instagram user.

“It was the first thing I noticed! They can’t have one picture without them being the focus, not even at her sister’s wedding,” commented another.

Is it possible that the timing of the PDA was purely coincidental?

Could it be that Jill and Derick simply wanted their affection for one another to be a matter of public record?

Sure. 

But we agree with the commenters that “Derick is an attention-starved social climber” angle is more fun.

Watch Counting On online for more from reality TV’s most controversial family.

View Slideshow: Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard Photos

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Jinger Duggar: Jealous of Joy-Anna"s Baby News?

As we reported earlier this week, Joy-Anna Duggar is pregnant with her first child.

Many fans were surprised by the news, not only because Joy-Anna is just 19 and has been married for only three months, but also because the pregnancy represents a significant break from Duggar tradition.

Typically, when two Duggar daughters are recently married (which is pretty much always the case these days) the one to wed first is the one to get pregnant first.

But Joy-Anna skipped the line, so to speak, announcing her pregnancy despite the fact that Jinger Duggar, who married six months before her, remains childless.

There’s been talk that Joy-Anna got pregnant before marriage and that her family moved her wedding up in order to avoid a scandal, but that’s a conversation for another time.

Most Duggar fans have been busy wishing Joy-Anna and husband Austin Forsyth all the best as they start their family together.

But some have expressed concerns for Jinger.

Like all Duggar women, Jinger has spoken excitedly about having children, and most thought she would have made a pregnancy announcement by now.

Since the use of birth control is frowned upon in the Duggar clan, many fans are now speculating that Jinger and husband Jeremy Vuolo are having trouble conceiving.

“Doubt she’s using BC. My guess is they are trying but might be having issues,” a Duggar fan recently wrote on Facebook.

“Statistically 1 to 2 in every 10 women deal with infertility problems. There are 9 duggar girls, so at least one of them is bound to struggle and so far the other 3 married ones seem to get pregnant quite easily,” 

“I’d feel really bad if they had infertility issues in that family. You know J’chelle [Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar] would think they were cursed by God,” commented another.

Many have pointed out that on a recent Counting On after-show, Jim Bob predicted that Joy-Anna would be the next to announce baby news, even though Jinger has been married much longer.

The prescient comment led many to believe that Jim Bob is aware Jinger is having trouble conceiving.

If Jinger is struggling with conception issues, her difficulty is likely only compounded by the fact that it’s all taking place on the public stage.

Unfortunately for her, the downside of your parents making a commodity of your private life is that the public’s interest rarely ends when the cameras are turned off.

Watch Counting On online for more form reality TV’s most famous family.

View Slideshow: Joy-Anna Duggar Pregnancy Raises One Huge Question

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Jessa Duggar on Joy-Anna"s Wedding: It"s Finally Her Turn!

Last month, Joy-Anna Duggar married Austin Forsyth in a surprisingly secretive ceremony.

Usually, the Duggars aren’t quite so clandestine about their nuptials.

In fact, news of past Duggar weddings was pretty much shouted from every rooftop in Tontitown.

This time around, the Duggars even posted a fake wedding registry for Joy-Anna online in an 

So why was Joy-Anna and Austin’s wedding shrouded in such secrecy?

Why, because a new season of Counting On premieres tonight, of course!

Yes, now more than ever, the Duggars are reliant on weddings and pregnancies to bring viewers back to their reality show, which has seen its ratings decline steadily over the past two seasons.

Joy-Anna and Austin shared certain details on social media, but fans will be forced to tune into tonight’s premiere in order to get the full run-down.

And naturally, the rest of the family is in full-blown promo mode at the moment.

Earlier today, People magazine published a transcript of a scene from tonight’s episode in which Jessa Duggar gushes about her soon-to-be-married younger sister and.

“Being here in the bridal suite while all the girls are getting ready, definitely takes me back to my wedding day,” Jessa says in the episode.

“It makes me reminisce about all the sweet memories just hours before my own wedding. I know the excitement that Joy is experiencing right now; the anticipation. It’s a big, big day.”

Jessa goes on to describe Joy-Anna’s mindset in the moments before saying “I do”:

“Joy is just staying relaxed, she’s not getting worked up,” the 24-year-old continues. “She’s just focusing on one thing at a time and getting ready … before we know it, the wedding will be here.”

And Jessa’s not the only one feeling nostalgic.

It was just a few months ago that Jinger Duggar married Jeremy Vuolo, but Jinge is already fondly reflecting on those days like she’s the old lady from Titanic or something:

“It really does seem like it was just yesterday that Jeremy and I were walking down the aisle and about to get married,” she says.

“I just can’t believe it’s Joy’s time to kiss. I still remember her as the little girl that I would help out with things … it’s crazy that it’s her wedding day, but we’re so excited for her.”

“Joy’s time to kiss” is kind of a creepy description, but our creepiness tolerance is pretty high when it comes to the Duggars, so we’ll let that one slide.

We will say that someone should shoot Jessa and Jinger an email reminding her that Jana Duggar exists.

It can’t be easy to hear your younger sisters gush about how it’s finally time for your even younger sister to start her life while you’re still cooped up at the compound helping to raise your small army of siblings.

But hey, that’s the life she’s chosen.

Yes, we just quoted the Godfather in reference to Jana Duggar.

Jana is gangsta and we refuse to back down from that stance.

Watch Counting On online in order to get caught up in time for tonight’s premiere.

View Slideshow: Joy-Anna Duggar Wedding Photos Released: Check Out Mrs. Forsyth’s Big Day!

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Josh Duggar: Was He Invited to Joy-Anna"s Wedding?

If you’re a fan of the Duggar clan, you’re probably aware that Joy-Anna Duggar married Austin Forsyth in a secretive ceremony over Memorial Day weekend.

The family went to such great lengths to keep the nuptials low-key that they even posted what appears to have been a fake wedding registry for Joy-Anna that was designed to give the false impression that the wedding wouldn’t take place until October.

It seems like an unnecessarily shady precaution, but the Duggars have gotten used to such cloak-and-dagger operations over the past couple years.

Yes, it’s impossible to talk about any milestone event for the Duggars without mentioning the dark cloud of the Josh Duggar sex scandals that continues to hang over their heads.

The family has made every effort to sweep Josh’s misconduct under the rug, but the fact remains that the same Duggar compound that’s now witness to so many staged scenes of togetherness was the scene of an unknown number of sex crimes.

The same smiling parents who beam with joy as their daughters leave the nest to start families of their own are the same that helped hide Josh’s serial molestations from legal authorities.

Given the horrendous nature of the situation, it’s not surprising that the Duggars have gone to almost laughable lengths to ensure that Josh is not seen on camera during the Counting On‘s highly-publicized wedding specials.

During Jinger Duggar’s wedding back in November, footage was edited to keep Josh off camera using sun spots and other obstructions that were added in post-production.

This time around, Josh, his wife Anna, and the couple’s four kids were nowhere to be found either in the wedding photos released online or in the congratulatory video clips recorded by the other siblings.

Fans were left wondering if Josh was even invited to the wedding, and believe it or not, some expressed pity for the admitted sexual predator.

“No congrats from Josh & Anna and the kids? They are still part of the family,” one follower commented on the family’s Facebook page.

“It would be nice to see them once in awhile!”

Fortunately, Duggar detractors were on hand to keep the situation in perspective:

“I can’t imagine that Joy’s new husband would be all that keen on getting well wishes from the older brother who used to molest her,” wrote one astute observer.

”I’m not being hateful, just stating facts. Josh is kept put of the spotlight because they could lose all sponsorship and their show if he reappears. He’s got major personal problems for this family’s once squeaky clean outer appearance.”

Watch Counting On online to witness the constant effort the Duggars put in to pretending the Josh situation never happened.

View Slideshow: Josh Duggar Sex Scandal Timeline: How His Family’s Empire Crumbled

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Joseph Duggar: SLAMMED for Proposing on Joy-Anna"s Wedding Day!

Joy-Anna Duggar married Austin Forsyth yesterday in, from what we’ve heard so far, was an absolutely lovely ceremony.

So lovely, in fact, that her big brother Joseph was moved to propose to his girlfriend, Kendra Caldwell, right then and there.

What a beautiful turn of events, right?

As they explained in a new interview, “We are super excited. It’s great not to be courting anymore, now we’re engaged!”

Kendra said that she is “so happy and so shocked. There’s so many words I want to say, but just shocked.”

Joseph added that “I was definitely nervous going into it, but I wasn’t afraid that she wasn’t afraid she was going to say no, because she has said, ‘I’m just waiting on you!‘”

And what better time to propose than at your little sister’s wedding?!

Just think: your whole family is already there, everyone’s already dressed up.

There are beautiful decorations just waiting to be taken advantage of, and love is undoubtedly in the air.

But, if you can even believe it, there are some people who think it wasn’t right for Joseph to propose on Joy-Anna’s wedding day.

There are actually many, many people who share that sentiment.

When the Duggars shared the news of the engagement on their official Facebook page, comments flooded in about how rude and disrespectful it is to propose during a wedding.

Even though Joseph reportedly received permission from Joy-Anna and Austin before proposing, fans were still bothered.

“They could have literally done it any other day,” one person wrote, “eve”n any other hour of the day. They will stop at nothing to stay relevant. Gross.”

Another person wrote “That is ridiculously rude. Not just to the bride and groom, but to his fiance as well. She should get a super planned day of her own. I mean a marriage, proposal, and all on grandma’s birthday.”

Others commented with things like “Way to take the attention away from the bride and groom” and “Talk about stealing the bride’s moments …”

One particularly sad comment read “With 19 siblings, I’m sure deep down inside Joy wanted one day that was all hers. She probably said that her brother could propose at her reception just to be nice.”

“Joseph should have known better. I hope someone takes the spotlight off him at his wedding.”

So was Joseph in the wrong for using his sister’s special day for his own proposal?

Or do you think Joy-Anna and her brand new husband were happy to share the love?

Or perhaps you’re just overwhelmed by the amount of Duggars currently courting, marrying, and reproducing.

Anything’s possible.

View Slideshow: 23 Biggest Duggar Family Scandals: How Low Can They Go?!

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