Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

{Joanna & her mom Marnie, Christmas 1971}

It's Christmas Eve and for the moment, the house is blissfully quiet because everyone (but me!) is still asleep. I love this time of year and I find my mind wanders to the people I'm missing. Some of my favorite memories of my youth are from Christmas Eve, when everyone I loved would gather around the piano at my grandparents house and sing Christmas carols. I can still hear the tenor voices of my grandfather and my uncle Gene. Aunt Sue's soprano as she played the piano. The feel of my best friend Alexandra's hand as we stood there doing our best to remember the words to O Holy Night. I had a great Aunt Bea who always wore a petticoat with jingle bells sown into it, and nothing heralded Christmas day like the sound of her bustling through the front door with her bells wishing us all a Merry Christmas.

I'm very blessed to have many of these memories on old Super 8mm home movies (thanks to my grandmother), VHS (thanks to my Uncle Jay) and a variety of other formats from the Christmases we've recorded ourselves over the years. I love being able to see images of my mother, grandparents and other family members and friends. Our daughter gets a kick out of seeing me and her Aunt Alex as kids. If I look back through our own old home movies, I see friends and family we can't be with this year. My Aunt Joanie and her family in Wisconsin. Rob's Dad and his kids in Wales. My Uncle Jay and his girls in North Carolina. I can hear our friends Teri and Bill singing "Baby it's cold outside" around our piano from when we lived in Texas. My Dad reading the "Night Before Christmas" at his home in California. My little sister Rebecca pretending to be a kitty under the dining table, and Rob's mom Joyce lovingly patting her head.

So, I have a plea for you this Christmas Eve... Dig out whatever type of video camera you have and capture some of those images and sounds which are uniquely Christmas. Even if you don't do anything with them for years, you will have them. I can't tell you how much it means to me to hear my mother's voice and my grandfather's laugh even though they've both been gone a long time.

This clip is from 2004 when Rhiannon and her friends we're not quite seven years old :) The camera is shaky, the audio is average, but I still consider it priceless.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

Joanna, Rob, & Rhiannon