Advent Calendar Day 17 ~ Grab Bag ~ Movies


Movies, so are you thinking I am talking about the movie theater? That could be a possibility, and not a bad one at that. This time though I am talking about 8mm movies. Do you remember those?

As long as I can remember my father has been ever so faithful in taking movies at Christmas. Seeing these movies is always such a treat as we don't get to see them often. The problem now is that time has moved on. As with other electronics devices, movie cameras are not what they use to be. My father took movies using 8mm film.

We used to watch those movies of Christmases past on a pull down screen that was on a stand. Sometimes we would watch these movies on a nice white wall. No matter how we watched them, they were always great. Seeing family members that are no longer with us, and revving up those memories of the past can be fun and emotional.

My father, bless his heart, has been doing something most wonderful for his daughters for the past few years. He has been transferring the 8mm movies he has taken from film to DVD's. A couple of years ago he had a local company transfer some of the movies for him. What he had transferred, he had made three times, one for each of his girls for Christmas presents. Such a wonderful surprise that was! We can reminisce all we want, whenever we want. This was a most wonderful gift!

Dad, realizing he had close to a half century worth of movies he had taken (some were actually video tape) decided to purchase a machine to make the transfers himself. Last Christmas each of us again received more DVD'S of my fathers movies. This time was even more special as he had to make each of them himself.

I will never forget Christmases growing up, they have all been filmed. I am a camera freak, but never have been much for using the video camera. Unfortunately, my own personal family Christmases as an adult have not been made into movies, at least not the gift giving part. If dad was around the rest of the day, you can bet it is on film though. Gift exchanges and Santa's surprises are now left to still photos in my house. Hum...now that there are grandchildren, I may have to rethink this approach. I can't imagine not being able to view movies of them years from now. And their parents would miss so much also, let alone my grandchildren by the time they are adults. A new tradition to start this year? I wonder if my video camera is totally out of date...

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Organizing ~ Cousins Found

Image
I finally took time yesterday to do something I have been wanting to do for awhile now. It has been several years since I started genealogy and blogging. Many cousins have been found. But, how many? Who? I have not kept any kind of system to log these cousin contacts. I was past due, do I even remember all of them? Well, that was the goal here. I started a spreadsheet of "Cousins Found." I titled columns with things like, phone number, address, email address, surname, how/where we made contact, and if I have met them. I am all about meeting my living cousins and their family members, it does my heart good, plus you never know how long they will be with us. Of course, they may also have information to help us in our genealogy research.   I started listing the cousins names I remembered making contact with, those were cousins I generally keep in contact with anyway, so that was easy. Then, sporadically, I would remember someone contacting me on one e-mail address w
Read more

#31 WBGB ~ Week 11 ~ Come Up with 10 Post Ideas

Image
I am following  Tonia's Roots  as she brings several GeneaBloggers through 31 weeks of working towards a better blog, prompts written by Darren Rowse.  Here is this weeks challenge adapted from Darren Rowse's daily challenges which Tonia is doing as weekly challenges: Ever run out of things to write about on your blog? If your answer is yes – you’re not alone. This weeks's task is to do an exercise that will identify a range of post ideas that you can use when stuck for an idea in future. The key with this process is not to put yourself under pressure to come up with completely new and out of the blue ideas for every post you write. Instead – this process taps into what you’ve recently written on your blog and helps you to identify ways to extend those ideas. Here’s the mind mapping method that I’ve used (note: I’ve talked about this previously so it could be familiar to some). 1. The Set Up Get a whiteboard, piece of paper, note book, tablet pc or someth
Read more

Sentimental Sunday ~ Western Union Telegram

Image
Do you remember telegrams? Western Union Telegrams were a bit before my time. I have scanned the few that were kept and received by my paternal family back in the day.  This telegram was sent to my grandmother from Obed Olson stating his brother Philip had passed away on Wednesday March 9, 1960. It also let the family know that the funeral services were to be on Saturday at 2:00pm at Coop Mortuary in Hibbing, Minnesota. The telegram was to be received by Friday (which would have been March 11) and the funeral with the funeral being the next day I highly doubt my grandparents made if from California to Minnesota for the funeral. Philip and Obed Olson were my first cousin once removed. Unfortunately, I never met either of them. Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!  Copyright © 2011 Cheryl Palmer
Read more