Smile, you're on home video

By Staff
Kim West
I didn't understand the fuss with taking pictures and filming home movies when I was a growing up.
But after being around my young nieces and nephews, I realized that it would be nice to have a way to gauge their development and be entertained by their once-in-a-lifetime expressions again and again.
It's also a lot of fun to flip through albums and watch home movies with family members. So I'm really glad my parents bothered to keep up with all that stuff when my sisters and I were growing up.
My mom is in the process of converting our family's home video tapes into DVDs, so she gave me some that were filmed at a time when my younger sister and I were still dressed in matching outfits.
After watching them, I learned a few things about my family.
Apparently, Christina and I lived off lollipops as toddlers, because we seemed to always have them tightly clenched in our little fists in the videos.
It's interesting how when you're a kid, the 10-second rule doesn't even exist. Who cares if the lollipop has been dropped several times, licked by the family retriever and banged on the table?
I learned that if my dad had decided to be a filmmaker instead of a systems analyst, he would have enjoyed working for the Discovery Channel, because a lot of his footage contained long shots of the local scenery and birds.
I also learned that parents sit through things that aren't really entertaining or educational simply because their children are in them. There was footage of a Brownie Christmas play my younger sister and I were in, and I don't know how all of the parents sat through it.
The Christmas shopping season officially begins today, so if you're searching for a that perfect present for a loved one, think about splurging for a digital camera or camcorder because those gifts will help preserve something that's priceless.