Wednesday Weekend Wind-Up: Christmas Nostalgia

On Saturday, we had our first snow that stuck around for a while.

On days like this, I don't mind one bit that we find ourselves staying in more often than not.  Being frugal is easy when you don't really want to go outside and spend money anyway. :P

My biggest excitement of the weekend, however, revolved around editing some videos from decades ago. The last time I was at my parents' house, I took home two treasures. On two separate occasions, my parents were able to borrow a video camera from my Uncle Edgar, so the holidays were extra special in 1988 and 1990. The 1988 video included footage of many of my cousins and other family members, so I was eager to create mini videos to share with each of them.  I plan to create a video that features all of my mom's side of the family and a separate one for my dad's side of the family.

Of course, the process didn't go entirely smoothly, but I shouldn't have procrastinated as long as I did considering I brought them home in October. I know there are a number of online businesses that will convert VHS to DVD relatively cheaply, but I was scared to death that the tapes would get lost in the mail. I decided that I would feel much more comfortable physically handing the tapes over to a local business. We ended up using American Video Productions Company, and the total cost was around $15.00 per tape + tax. Their business hours were a little odd, but the turnaround time was 24 hours. Francisco took the tapes to and from the company, and he said the guy was just the right amount of nerdy to trust. :) [He meant that in a good way.]

Then things got complicated. We had to pull out the old, slow laptop because our new one doesn't have a CD drive. Then, of course, the files weren't in the right format for me to edit. My intent was to pull them into Windows Movie Maker to edit, but we had to convert them first. There were several failed conversion attempts that resulted in unplayable audio, drastically shortened clips, etc. We finally found some downloadable software that was able to get the job done.   

I posted three two-minute videos on Facebook this weekend as a sneak peek of Christmas 1988, and the response was definitely positive.

I didn't know how everyone would feel about their posts being featured here, so I blocked out last names. Even my own, although most people following me probably already know mine lol.

 The 1990 video was only my immediate household, but I love watching my much younger self play with my baby brother. 

The reality is that I probably will not be able to get this all edited before Christmas this year, but if I post the family videos by next year, it will be just in time for the 30-year anniversary of 1988! 

I keep wishing that there were more videos from my childhood and maintain that kids these days have no idea how lucky they are. Practically everyone walks around with an instant video camera at their fingertips. This is all I have in terms of recorded memories of my childhood - 2 Christmases where we were lucky enough to bum a camcorder off of a family member. Thank you, Uncle Edgar. You have no idea what a wonderful present this was all those decades ago.