I Decked These Halls Personally:
A Critical Review and Study of the Fargo/Budnik Family Christmas Videos from 1989-93, 1997, & 1999
Dan Budnik, 12.16.10
For Uncle Tom. A good man.
Merry Chrismoose, everyone!
My family got their first video camera right before Thanksgiving 1989. Our Holidays would never be the same. Now, there would be a video camera getting in everyone's way. For most of the "Video" years, I manned the camera. Heading boldly into every nook and cranny of our festive celebrations with the intentions of giving posterity something to look at and respond with "Turn that off!"
No, not quite. My intentions were noble. We had the camera. We had a lot of Yuletide activity. I love Christmas. It's the holiday that generates its own Nostalgia every year. The videos were, and are, a remembrance of Christmases past and people who are no longer with us, for whatever reason. It was also a way for me to act like a complete fool under the guise of "I'm The Cameraman!"
Almost every one of the years where I was in charge of the taping, I tried to give them all an individual flow. I edited celebrations if I thought they went on too long. I created short videos, put music over stretches. I even did sections with narration, of sorts. I wanted all of the celebration there but I wanted to put my own stamp on it. Sometimes it was successful, sometimes it was so boring I could cry. But, the historical factor outweighs it all.
My purpose here is to walk through the 7 years I was in charge of the Christmas videos. (There was no camera from 1994-1996. I was not home for 1998. A video was shot without me.) Mainly, I think, it's a critique of a pompous fellow doing his best with the limited resources he had. Trying to make something worth watching forever and be goofy at the same time.
Let's stroll in...
The characters: Me, Lorraine, Allison, Mike, Mom, Dad (he is my stepdad but everyone who is me calls him "Dad"). Plus, a huge cast of assorted family members, strange people and folks who none of us can recognize.
The setting: Rochester, NY
The Christmas schedule was the same, more or less, ever year.
Cabin Party: With my Step-Dad's family. They'd rent a cabin. They'd hang out all day, usually a Sunday. After dinner, Santa would show up and give the kids gifts. His prescience frightened me until I figured out the trick. The Party usually happened within the first few weeks of December.
Christmas Eve: Aunt Helen's House in Churchville, NY. A beautiful place in the middle of nowhere. This was with my Mom's family. We would have the traditional Polish Christmas meal (perogis were involved...none of those store bought things, these were Mom-made) and then open some sweet, sweet gifts. For a few years, we would go to Midnight Mass at a Polish Church in downtown Rochester. Midnight Mass started at 10PM.
Christmas Morning: We would wake up and open gifts. Long, languorous, lovely hours...
Christmas Afternoon/Evening: We'd get together with my step-dad's immediate family for dinner and gifts and hanging out. Either at our house or theirs.
Budnik Family Christmas: Usually the following weekend, we would meet up with my Dad's family. A nice evening with a good meal and a few gifts.
In between all of these moments, there are assorted little moments of Christmas. Little traditions and cool moments that gave the days an extra-shine.
CHRISTMAS '89
We had taken the camera to our Thanksgiving get-together and bored ourselves silly by taping every single thing that happened. Here's what I learned: You need to be selective. Don't just set the camera down on the family eating and let it go. It's far too annoying for the viewer to pick through a half dozen conversations. And, there's always one person (generally, an Uncle) who gives the camera dirty looks.
The '89 video begins with a "music video". Well, I walked around the house and through the neighborhood in the middle of a snowstorm. What music did I put over it? Well, it was Winter 1989...What album was every hip 16-year-old buying? You got it! Jethro Tull's "Rock Island"! (You thought I was going to say "Presto" didn't you?) On that album, there is a very beautiful tune called "Another Christmas Song", which fit my "Home Video" needs.
My bedroom was hidden at the back of the house. We had a split-level. I was on the bottom of the split. You entered my room through a door hidden in the wall of the Family Room. No knob, no visible hinges, no handle. The wall was wood paneling and you got in by reaching between the correct pieces of wood and pulling. Then, you got in my room...a long L with a bed at the base. True Fact: My bedroom had no heat. (There was a space heater put in after a few years, which I never used.) I had an electric blanket. When the temperature would get down to 0, it got chilly. I loved it.
Sort of a side track but not quite.
The '89 Video begins with me stepping out of the Family Room wall and seeing the fireplace, hung with stockings, and all sorts of decorations. Up some steps, a beautiful tree sits in the front window. Then, the camera zooms in on a light pole, covered with Christmas lights, on the front lawn. (It was taken out in the summer of '90.) You can see the snow coming down, heavy, all around. Suddenly, I'm outside! And, I stroll through the neighborhood. It was a very cold evening.
The whole time Jethro Tull plays. It's quite lovely. You get to see the house, inside and out. And, you get to see the lengths I'll go to to get some good stuff on camera. I always tried to go into spots where you normally wouldn't be. This will be verified shortly.
(Don't worry, Faithful Readers of BS. I'm not describing every segment of my family's Christmas videos like that. I felt like that bit deserved it.)
Cabin Party: It was early December, before the "video" above. (My editing of the memories begins.) It was a cold, snowy day and there was a lot of sledding involved. How do I know? Well, not because the camera actually went outside the cabin. I can see lots of folks covered in snow and carrying sleds. I didn't do much with the cabin party because I didn't really know a lot of the folks. We saw them at this and then, during summer, at the Chili Cook-off. So, I let everyone else (and a lot of Dad) take the camera.
Not always a wise idea...If you want 30 straight minutes of the camera sitting on my family while we eat...this is your video. Want to see the angle change but the eating continue? Enjoy! There was 90 minutes of footage from the cabin party. It went on and on and on...so, next weekend, I edited the whole thing down to about 25 minutes and placed it after the "music video". I thought that was a better opener.
One of the uncles unwraps stinky cheese. My brother (Mike) gets mad because my little sister (Allison) gets three gifts from Santa. (Off Camera. Mike: "Another one?" Dad: "Shut up. You got that many gifts when you were young.") My Grandma Vi's Boyfriend Jim uses the camera in the funniest 30 seconds of the tape. It basically involves the camera turning on and seeing three guys, very far away, leaning against a fireplace. Then, we get thirty seconds of "This ain't on! This thing ain't running!" The three guys point at the red light on the camera and you can see it jostle as Jim looks for the red light. Then, he asks "How do you stop it?" "Push the red button again!" It goes off. Awesome...
Christmas Eve: It was us (without Mike), my Aunt Helen and Uncle J.P. Country Christmas music plays in the background. I spend a lot of time walking around the house and making really bad jokes. I don't know what my problem was this year. But, I am loaded with embarrassing gags. I also turn the camera upside down, place the lens cap on and call it "Christmas For The Blind" and run the camera along the snowy ground in the dark whilst making Evil Dead-style demon-y sounds over it. I had no shame. I was an idiot.
Isn't there always an Uncle who gets a little too drunk and does something that is, frankly, embarrassing for everyone? Well, J.P. made the grade this year and we got it on tape. It involves a "certain gift" he has for his wife and none of us knew what to do when he said it...but I have it on tape for posterity. Please enjoy the screenshot of the man with his hand on his fly.
Christmas Morning: A lot of Batman stuff that year. I got a lot of Monty Python stuff. (This was their 20th anniversary.) I also got Neil Young's "Freedom" and a large keyboard, which I never quite learned to play but helped me score some short films in college. I did get Life Savers and Chapstick in my stocking. What did you use to get in yours? We'd usually get one gift-like thing and then stuff like pencils...
"Here's me taking a picture of you taking a picture." Did anyone else have this happen? On at least 4 of the 7 videos, my Mom is taking a picture with her camera while someone is videotaping her doing it. And, every year, my Mom verifies that something isn't going to go wrong and every year the picture is taken...I've never seen a Christmas photo with the video camera in it. Where did they all go? I like to think that my Mom has a Very Special Christmas Photo Album under her bed that contains nothing but pictures of her kids videotaping her taking a picture.
This was the year that my brother got...Well, he said he didn't want anything for Christmas and, apparently, he had a bit of an attitude about it. So, we gave him a big box filled with crumpled newspaper and a bag of bituminous coal. It was High Hilarity for our House. I'm sure Noel Coward would have dome something droller but we simply didn't have the time nor the resources to pull of P.G. Wodehouse-style rumpus-ry.
Christmas Afternoon: One of my cousins got engaged and much of the evening's revelry was about that. It's quite touching to see all the toasting and teary-eyes...and then Mike comes running through with a noisy jet plane on a stick or Allison yells "Another One" with great surprise when she got her 40th gift for the day. My sister Lorraine was always more low-key at these gatherings but she was there.
The year before this one, I had discovered It's A Wonderful Life. I believe it may have been the last year when it aired all the time on Christmas Day. (If you weren't cognizant for that time, ask around.) I watched the last half hour, loved it, and then switched channels and caught the rest of it. What a great movie. Somewhere, in this day, I watched it again. I wish I had taped me watching it.
Best moment of the evening: My brother with the camera reviewing gifts received throughout the holiday stops in mid-review and leans into a bowl of candy canes. He grabs about four of them and mumbles "later".
Budnik Family Christmas: I forget what town we were in but it was outside of Rochester. The opposite direction from Churchville. My Uncle Roger's (Uncle Rog) house, up on a hill. He doesn't live there anymore so this video is my remembering it. A beautiful place...with a long, long driveway covered with snow. All the Budniks were there. Sitting around, eating lots of pizza and opening some gifts. My Cousin Kris talks about college. My Great Gramma and Aunt Rose sit and rock in comfortable, old chairs. Lorraine talks about the pack of gum she got from Santa. I followed Allison, from child level, as she ran behind a couch (Evil Dead again)...it's quite fun.
This segment has a portion that I edited from the DVD-Rs. We took the camera upstairs and hung out in a room talking and playing with the little kids. This goes on for 15 minutes. Why? I don't know. We thought we were breaking all the Comedy Records when we pointed the camera at each other. Oh, we had our moments but, in general, the "Christmas With The Budniks" reality show won't be hitting MTV this year. It needs another edit. Maybe it's an hour long special.
The whole thing ends with me leaving the gift giving and going into a closet...On the top shelf of the closet are several hundred records...I was borrowing. I was building a collection. Every year, when I was younger, my Uncle Rog would give me whatever the big hardcover Doctor Who book was from that year, usually Peter Haining's tomes. He introduced me to D. Who, Sherlock Holmes, British sitcoms and a lot of the music I listened to throughout high school, college and now. You're a good man, Uncle Rog. I miss you. We've got five new seasons of Doctor Who to talk about.
Christmas '90
Or, as I like to call it, the Really Boring Year.
Something big happened between '89 & '90...I got a girlfriend, a rather steady one. And so, when Christmas hit, I was distracted. And I was able to justify my distraction within the context of the Christmas video with these thoughts... Last year, there had been too much of "me" in the video. This year, I would give the camera to everyone else...The variety would be worth it.
Cabin Party: The variety, apparently, involved endless footage of my brother going into the Park Restrooms and standing there. I can see the theory behind the comedy but it makes for odd viewing today. And, there is no snow...it all looks kind of boring. I nominate the 30-35 minutes (couldn't edit this one, too busy kissing) at this Cabin Party to be the dullest patch of anything in the family videos. After we say Hi to everyone, the camera always seems to be in the least interesting spot. There is one vaguely cool section were Mike and I hide under a window and peer in at people but that's it.
Odds & Ends: We had a Christmas calendar thing that we'd hang on a door. It had little pockets numbered from 1 to 24. It was green and there was a little white mouse you put in the pockets that corresponded to the current day. Am I overexplaing it? Possibly...
You can tell what my girlfriend got me for Christmas because it plays loud over the footage of my Dad, Allison and myself hanging out before we go to Aunt Helen's...Genesis -- "Foxtrot". "Watcher Of The Skies" plays loud...
Christmas Eve: We have a discussion with my 4-year-old sister about whether or not Santa will come this year. She admits that she's been stubborn. The Big-B Babcia is there this year. Babcia is polish for Grandmother. She's my Polish Grandmother. And, this is the year I broke out and did "The Babcia Dance" over and over. What does it mean? Was it an inside joke? It's really not worth explaining. I'd yell "Let's do the Babcia Dance" and point the camera at my feet as I jigged around. One of the mighty cool things about these videos is that people would say or do things that only made sense in the context of that time. Sometimes they are pop culture catchphrases and sometimes they make no sense to anyone but you. "The Babcia Dance" is one of the latter. I watch it and think "Oh God...that...its been so long..." All my memories are still there. I just need regular Proust Bumps to shake things out.
I may not have been receiving the respect from my family I should have. In a two-minutes span, I am shown to my seat at the kid's table and then I'm congratulated for being accepted to Penn State. Maybe I should have calmed down on the goofing around?
Christmas Eve Late Night: Lorraine and I stand across the street and look at our house, in full. Split-levels are long houses so we had to stand halfway up the lawn of the old lady across the street. I suppose if she had looked out at 11:45 on December 24, 1990, she might have been surprised to see two teens standing in the middle of her lawn videotaping the neighbors. I might have been.
My Dad used to go fairly nutty with the decorations. It started calm with a Styrofoam Santa hanging in the front window. Lights around the window. Some lights along the edge of the roof...Gradually, it built to lights everywhere (including covering the front foliage) and a whole array of Nativity scenes and Santa and his reindeer on the front lawn. (In 1997, we are in the downstairs Family Room and we can see all the lit-up visitors on the lawn. My Dad touched a plug. "Oh yeah, this is hot. Don't want to blow all the fuses." He pulls the plug. You see the lights go out on the lawn and the lights in the house brighten.) Every year, I tried to get out there during the coolest, snowiest moments and shoot the silent house all lit up for Christmas.
Christmas Morning: Lots of "Simpsons" and "Tiny Toons". I got Eric Clapton's "Crossroads" and a Triumph album...you know it! All the ladies' hair seems to be really large here. We got Nintendo! Mario Brothers all day!
Best moment: My brother checks his stocking. Santa gave him a can of tuna fish. Oh Santa! What the hell are you up to?
It's a weird year. The other ones all have something that grab me but this one...I'm disconnected from it. I was there but my mind was elsewhere. Hey! I was a 17-year-old with a girlfriend! What do you want from me?
Christmas Evening: A lot of footage of the Big B eating. I barely had the camera during this run. Mike did most of the work and he seemed fascinated by the Big B eating. And, there is a guy there that I do not recognize. "Who is that guy?" "Oh...one of ????'s friends." "What's his name?" "I don't know." I didn't invite a lot of random folks to Christmas. I always thought it was for family. But, other portions of the family didn't agree. There was almost always one person who was completely unknown to me. Maybe some sort of "Information Text" would help?
Budnik Family Christmas: They all have big hair. My Aunt Cindy, Aunt Lynette and Aunt Elaine had Chevrolet Chevettes. They were known as the Chevette Sisters. I don't know if they had the Chevettes at this time but I just remembered that.
Sophomore Slump hits me big time.
Christmas '91
A great one. I was on break after finishing my first semester at college. The drive home from school at night during a blizzard was something I wrote about in a short story and then a script. (Ask me about it. It's a hell of a good story.) I was supposed to work as a busboy at Carmine's restaurant. But, something went awry...they had two locations. One of them burnt down right before I got back. So, when I called to find out when to start, I discovered that they had double the staff...No work for Dan. For the last time ever, I wouldn't have some sort of job when I got home from school or was out and about as a grown-up. That's another story...not always a happy one.
Regardless...
'90 bored me. So, I came up with "The Concept".
I would be in charge but everyone would tell a story. I would do most of the camera work, but, spread throughout the tape would be little stories and little digressions from all members of the family...I spent a semester with creative and interesting people. I was trying to bring some of that back.
Dad: Told the story of his house burning down one Christmas morning when he was a child. Faulty wiring at the tree. He decorates the tree as he tells his tale. If you see him, ask him to tell the story.
Mom: On Christmas Eve, she describes the Polish setup for the evening. Great meal. We had Clams Casino that year.
Lorraine: Tells the Christmas Eve adventures, culminating in the 10PM Polish Midnight Mass.
Mike: Comedy! I catch him on the toilet enacting some sort of playlet with a Santa doll and a Mrs. Claus doll. He talks about Christmas morning. He does mention the tuna. Oddly enough, his stocking his hung above the toilet with care.
Allison: Tells a story about people who don't have enough money for gifts. Her theory is that this is sad, because at Christmas, these people are bored..."And they might die and go up in heaven!" (5-year-old)
Best insult: Allison to Lorraine as they argue about what was left out for Santa at the fireplace last year.
"I'm looking at you and I'm staring at you and for the rest of my life I'm going to kick you in the butt."
Me: I dress up as Grampa Dan and tell dumb stories about "Old Fashioned Christmases" in the early 20th century.
Lots of great non-event stuff this year. Allison lost her two front teeth and she sings "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" a lot. The stories are really cool. Everyone has a big smile on their face as they talk about Christmas. Unlike '90, which adds very little, this piles on whole new bits of lore...and, we get to see complete darkness become light as the Christmas tree is lit for the first time.
Cabin Party: Same as before with even more folks that I didn't recognize. I was home for a weekend so I look distracted. I wish I had edited this a bit. Santa gives out a lot of gifts. (Yes, I still got one.) This is the penultimate cabin party for me...Sigh...
Mike invited a friend along. They tossed a football around...So, I edited a montage of my brother missing the ball to the "Football Fight" music from the Flash Gordon soundtrack. You can never have enough Queen at Christmas.
Christmas Eve: My Aunt Chris and Uncle Nick were there this year. Uncle Nick tells a joke about a hooker and three blondes walking down the street. Uncle J.P. says something strange about the bathroom to my Aunt Chris. It was all slightly uncomfortable but I was resting and relaxing so it didn't bother me.
This is the Christmas Eve where Allison said she wanted two naked ladies for Christmas. I mention that I wouldn't mind two naked ladies for Christmas and Allison picked up on it. For the next few minutes, she told long-winded stories about getting naked ladies for Christmas. Dad and I had to scramble when Allison announced what she wanted in front of Mom. ("It was him!" "It was him!")
You know that homey, comfortable feeling you get at Christmas. You've eaten and you're sitting...Gifts will be opened soon. Anticipation is high...I had that all through this evening. You can see it on my face and hear it in my voice.
Coolest thing: When we arrive, it's daytime and the ground is snow-free. Several hours later, in darkness, the snow is roaring down. Lorraine and I leap out into the snow and dance around like mad. Then, we go walking around the house. Very dark, very beautiful (except when you can't see anything). Watching this evening...I feel at home.
Christmas Eve Midnight to Christmas Day 12:02AM: Lorraine and I dance, again, at midnight on the front lawn. The snow has covered the big bulbs on the bushes so you see colors shining through the white. It's cool. Strange moment: The street is empty. No one making a sound except us. The moment we step onto the front lawn and it is Christmas Day...my neighbor comes around the side of his house and gives us a stare as we dance. Where the hell did he come from? He was an old guy. Was he hiding under a shrub? Was it, perchance, Santa?
Christmas Morning: I think it must have been college. I'm more mellow here. Not much funny but calmer. We open gifts. We chat. The ground is covered with snow.
I think that this Christmas was one that just nailed it...This is Christmas!
Christmas Afternoon/Evening: Only a few moments of footage here. I'm not sure where all of it went. The camera just kind of sits on a couch as everyone opens gifts. Then, this is interesting, it jumps to a while later and the lens is fogged over. I think there was a battery problem and we recharged it in a side room with no heat. (Not my room. We were at my Aunt Mary and my uncle Tom's house.) The cold camera steamed up in the warm living room. It gives that scene the feeling like it's a dream sequence or that it's from 100 years ago.
Budnik Christmas: Standard hangout with gifts...But...this time...I set the camera up in Mike's room where two cousins, Ryan and Josh, were playing video games. I don't know how old they were. At a guess, Ryan was 7 and Josh was 6. And they play and they tell dirty jokes..."Mommy, mommy, turn on your headlights! There's a snake in your grass!" and almost swear a lot...It's not Christmas and it's not consistently interesting (and it's not very fair) but it can be fun to watch.
"Why don't you stink up your mother's jumbos?!"
Christmas '92
I was a film school nerd. This is the year where I went crazy with the editing and the assembling (except during the too long Cabin Party footage)...and it's a hell of a lot of fun to watch.
Things go along, more or less, in the same order as all the others. It's just that there are no long, long stretches of nothing in particular occurring. It's lo-fi flashier and involves a massive amount of goofing around.
Mike Fargo is Home Alone! There are two short pieces involving Mike, who is now twice the size he was in '89, being left home alone. I edited VHS-to-VHS as best as I could. I dubbed in the "Home Alone" Music over it all and dubbed Mike's voice myself. In the first one, everyone leaves on Christmas morning. What will Mike do?! In the second one, he tries to go sledding but everyone's left...so he doesn't go. Hey! They're not great but they've got editing and they move along. And, I stood on the roof to get overhead shots. That was fun.
What else?
Lorraine and I dub a scene from the cabin party in Spanish. A tour of the house (a la '89) is set to John Denver & Rowlf the Dog singing "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" It was shot and edited to the music so it looks better than the Tull "video" but it doesn't have the same "I'm outside in this" craziness. We sing a song over a Christmas Eve scene that begins with a close up of my Mom's hair. There is also some rapping.
And, this is the year that introduced MC Norm and Rappin' Bing! Mike and I viewed the Christmas footage and dubbed our voices over it. Surprisingly, it's fun to watch. I even break into song. There is "The Cool Song", with the lyrics "Look at you, you're cool./You're moving 'round, you're cool./It's Bing! He's cool./You're dancing there, you're cool." And, the "Groin Thing" song. "You're doin' a groin thing! You're doin'...a... groin thing!"
First use of "groin" in a Christmas video.
If I could invite you all over to my house, I'd have you watch this one. It's cool, like Rappin' Bing.
Christmas '93 -- The Lost Christmas
Here was the plan:
Following up on the variations from last year, I recorded everything. All the events were put on separate tapes. Then, I was going to shoot linking footage of myself talking about Christmas. Something like "Hi everyone. It's Dan. Welcome to the 1993 Christmas Video. What's your favorite part of our Christmas? The Cabin Party, Christmas morning...etc...Of course, we always start at the Cabin Party. Let's go there now." And then, I'd cut to a brief edited mash-up of Cabin Party footage. Then, back to me, "Let's see what those Budniks are up to." Mash-up.
The plan was to hop all over the regular events completely at random. I wanted to surprise everyone who had seen the last four years of videos. I had planned it being about 45 minutes long and being speedy keen.
Well, I edited the first 6 minutes and then went back to school...and then lost track of time...and then, when I sat down six months later, I couldn't find the tapes...I never found them. Christmas '93 had the most footage shot and, consequently, the most footage lost. The brief Cabin Party mash-up that exists is edited really weird with narration from me. This may have been fun.
Interim
We were having camera troubles. They started back in the Winter of '90. I was shooting a sketch called "The Outdoor Men's Winter Soccer League". Myself and three friends were in soccer uniforms playing in foot deep snow. It was slightly dangerous. It was rather funny. And, the battery on the camera froze. It never quite worked right again. (In the Winter of '93, I had a film crew (well, 5 people) assembled in the snowy woods of Ithaca, NY to shoot a short film...when the camera froze. There were no spare cameras and the shoot was cancelled. I freeze 'em.)
But, around Thanksgiving '97, when I had been living in Los Angeles for over two years, they got another camera. One of those with the really small tapes that we had to transfer to VHS. And, I was coming home for the holidays!!
Christmas '97
Cabin Party: No footage. It was on a separate tiny tape that got lost. Too bad...I had footage where I hid in the bushes and watched Santa approach in the dark. My last cabin party. I remember, since it had been 6 years since my last cabin party, that no one seemed to know me.
Christmas Eve: Allison was, apparently, the only member of the family who had watched the Christmas videos. She took over the camera chores here. Oh, I go on occasionally this year but, to be honest, I had 1) a groin pull and 2) a broken heart. Those two may go hand in hand or they may not. But, the gal I'd been going out with had broken up with me a week before Christmas and I'd hurt myself in the Downstairs Region...In pain, physically and emotionally...I still put on quite an amusing Christmas performance.
I know, I know. "Boy, this guy does love himself." It's not me. It's the Dan in these videos. So let's all be cool...
I sit around a lot in this one. I sing some songs. I tell some stories. (It was the Winter of "South Park" and so Mr. Hanky does get mentioned.) Allison and I are having a really great time. By the end, I've got ribbon wrapped around my head and I'm lip-syncing to a singing tree...
Oh, and this was one of the years when Aunt Helen insisted that we do "one gift at a time". The older the person, the more they liked the idea. I found it excruciating.
I love the anticipation of Christmas. It doesn't get anymore heightened than on the Eve. I'm not a kid. I may be an idiot. But, I can see what makes me happy in this holiday and I hook myself into it and have a good time.
Christmas Eve Late: It might be Christmas morning/early. I walk around inside the house with my Dad and we look at the trees. That year they had two trees. Real one in the front window and a fake one in the family room. So many gifts. That was the year when they had the huge light show out front. So much decoration. You'd have to go up to the attic and bring down box after box of decorations. And, the attic entrance was in the garage. You had to climb a ladder until you were about two stories in the air and then you crawled into an unpleasant space and threw boxes down...I miss that attic.
Dad and I are just enjoying the house after a lovely day. Christmas is here.
Christmas Morning: Opening gifts. No one is in a hurry. I don't think we started until after 9AM. When Lorraine and I were small, we would be up at 7 or earlier. (When I was very young, I used to wake up around 2AM, every Christmas. And, I could not fall back asleep.) During the years when Allison was the main child partaking of Christmas, we generally began at 8:30 or after. Much more civilized.
I do sing a bit more here. I got the last Calvin & Hobbes book. Mike had just become a father so he was moving around a lot taking care of assorted bits of business. I'm just a still space here. Until...until...Allison caught Dad and I dancing to the Spice Girls in the kitchen.
Remember the Spice Girls? Yeah, neither do I.
Christmas Evening: There were a few folks there who knew me...but I didn't know them. I hate when that happens. My Dad's Family is having a heck of a time. Aunt Mary sings. Everyone has lots of pictures taken. Gifts are opened.
Budnik Christmas: It was nice to see them. All the kids have grown quite a bit and all of them are watching "South Park". Much of our time is spent at a table with Aunt Rose. I set the camera on the table and just recorded us talking. Is it interesting? I don't know. But, when a beloved relative dies, every moment saved is a good one.
Christmas '99
Y2K! My Aunt Mary brings it up. And, I think she scares my Mom, who hadn't heard anything about it.
There are moments of this one that I really like but I think I'd just been away to long by this point so there isn't as strong a grab as there was previously.
Christmas Eve: I have the camera a lot more here. I sing a lot. My cousin Alex is there and he joins me in a song I'm making up about how much we like Christmas. This evening has my least favorite moment in it...
That year for Christmas I had recorded myself reading a bunch of my short stories. I had four different tapes with stories on them. So, as gifts are being handed out, I suddenly stand with a bag and announce what I'm doing...I tell them about my writing and what I'm working on and that I want them to enjoy my work. (I don't think I gave one to the Big B.) I start handing out the tapes. Some of them look interested, some of them not so much.
As I'm finishing them up, my Dad says "Danny?" 'Yes." "Did you ever see "Patch Adams"?" ""Patch Adams"? No." "Oh, because there's a guy from Rochester in it. It's a really good movie..." And, he talks about "Patch Adams", which wasn't on TV and which had not been mentioned in any context. You can see my face drop and all the energy drain out of me...I seem to lose my verve there...you can imagine...I don't know if anyone ever listened to any of those tapes.
Christmas Eve Late: The battery was dead so I can only go where the extension cord lets me. I go outside (no snow) and check out the lights. I walk around the house, as best as I can, and this is my favorite moment from this Christmas.
Christmas Morning: Just like '97. I'll tell you the problem here...When I came down for this trip, I had an agenda. I was writing a novel. 12 chapters. I was there for 13 days. I was planning on writing one chapter a day. So, every morning I woke up and I couldn't rest until the chapter was done. I'm distracted here.
Christmas Evening: Lots of folks I didn't know. This was no longer a world that I was a part of. I just didn't see everyone enough. Folks are having a kickass time, though. I'm sitting in a chair, writing. I appear more later on when I've clearly finished the chapter.
Budnik Christmas: There's only a couple minutes of footage. We see everyone standing around. We see the kids playing video games. Then, we see gifts being opened and then...the last Christmas video ends...
Oh, the Christmas Chicanery! I'm so very glad we did all these videos. For years, I thought no one in the family watched them. It took ages for them to find the originals and send me copies in LA. But, then, in 2008, suddenly they asked me to send them copies of my copies. I did. And, apparently, the videos were watched and enjoyed. So many memories. So many people they haven't seen in years. So many folks who have passed on. It's good to have them here, especially at Christmas.
As I said at the beginning, I think Christmas is unique in that it brews its own nostalgia. You can swim in the Christmas of yesteryear at the same time that you enjoy this year (and make new memories). My wife and I have a beautiful tree. We've got the house decorated. I think 2010 is going to be an awesome Christmas. I've got some cool gifts for my wife. Write to me and I'll tell you what they are. (Sweets, don't even try it.) I love Christmas. These videos are awesome.
Dave Burlap is currently doing a Beta to Blu-Ray transfer of these. Should be something to see.
Merry Christmoose, everyone. |
