Giving Thanks Day 13 ~ Reel Moments, Real Treasures

Today I am thankful, and truly grateful for home videos. Last year I surprised my parents with a gift of transferring several of our old 8mm film onto a DVD. I had once attempted it before years ago, by purchasing a kit for them to send off their reels of film for transferring but it never transpired (I suspect that sending off the precious film fearing something could happen to it was the culprit). So last year I found a company that would keep the film in house and transfer them onsite. They did an amazing job, handling the delicate film, which was getting more and more frail and brittle over the years. It had been over 12 years since any of us had watched them (our projector bulb died and finding a replacement for it was unsuccessful). It was one present that I "opened" and used before giving...I had them make a copy for our family, so technically it wasn't the one I gave my parents. When I picked up the DVD, the cover had three pictures on it, one of my brother, one of me, and one of my sister....the person who created it had no idea out of all the film footage he transferred that we were the three kids in our family! The first DVD of the older films was solely dedicated to Christmas footage....and as I sat and watched the film for the first time, my eyes flooded with tears. So many wonderful memories, laughing at how funny it is to watch film without hearing our voices (and we'd would talk to the camera as if someone could hear us), the faces of those that have passed on, seeing our old house, our Christmas trees, playing in the snow, visits from friends from New Orleans, visiting my Aunt Carol's house during Christmas, Holiday dinners, and of course the morning of Christmas with Santa's gifts strewn through our living room in a volcanic explosion of paper, ribbons and bows. Even with the soft music they had selected to play as our home movies were shown, could not drown out the sounds I replayed in my head of those magical times. Though I will admit I missed the sound of the projector clicking away when watching, the quality of the film had been slightly touched up with lighting but still captured the nostalgia of how the film would "roll" along while you watched. This holiday, we are transferring all the vacation home movies onto a DVD for my parents. I can't wait to watch them and see what memories are unlocked from a long ago treasure. It makes me more dedicated to get my children's home movies onto DVD's. If you think I took a lot of pictures, well then, home videos of my boys first few years were a close second! I do regret not taking more videos, and am going to make it a point to capture more video in the coming years. My kids home movies are easier to transfer and can be done in my house, and each time I watch one...another treasure is found. Laughter of my grandmother who has passed, hearing baby coo's and first words, the toddling of a little one, reading a book for the first time, hearing the "I wub you" over and over with "bye bye bye bye" waving at the camera.....precious memories. I am thankful for the moments captured on film and in movies....the pictures tell a story, the movie replays memories. I am thankful to have so many great ones, these "reel" moments are "real" treasures ♥