the family vacation videos

Fantastic Friday

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

My kids have gotten into the Fantastic Friday tradition, asking on the way to their arts classes: what’s the karaoke song today? My older girls always have suggestions (see last week’s post). Lately my toddler has joined into the song requests by asking for “vacation songs.” So we play a whole playlist to sing to.

She’s referring to the music that our family vacation videos are set to. To her, that’s her music. Music that her family’s stories are set to. Music that some of her memories are already set to.

For well over a decade, my parents have managed to get their kids and grandkids together for an annual vacation. We have a shared photo album throughout the week and everyone understands the assignment from our matriarch: add photos and clips to be used for the vacation video. No moment is too small and no adventure is too wild. Everyone takes responsibility for adding to the album to make sure we’re all in the video.

When we return, my step-mom gets right to work on composing an epic family vacation video of all the best clips and even adds a photo collage at the end. She learned this skill just to give everyone this lasting gift from our trips. Like everything she else she does to make vacation magical, the video is a labor of her love. While she’s working on it, she’ll mention the video progress in conversations, talk about how hard it is to whittle down all of her favorite clips, tease the grandkids about what she included, or share sneak peaks in her living room before she’s done because she’s eager to share.

While my kids impatiently wait for the video, they want to know: Did any of their silly photos make the collage? Which of their GoPro clips made it in? Is that video of them learning to play pool in there? What do the adults even do when the kids go to bed and will the video reveal this mystery? What songs did Mimi use?

Needless to say, it’s a big deal when the vacay video drops.

We get to see our time together through the different viewpoints and angles of everyone else’s camera lenses. We get to watch our children bask in a family tradition that shapes them far beyond the reaches of plane rides and road trips. We get to remember the good, true, and beautiful moments with our family. And it’s there any time someone needs to remember.

When my toddler is losing it and her big sisters want to help her calm down, they often play the vacation videos for her. All three will snuggle on the couch and watch their grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, sisters, and parents pausing our busy schedules to enjoy each other.

I listen to their commentary as they reminisce and say, “Look, that’s Mimi holding you when you were a baby!” or “Look at Grandpa’s big, happy smile!” They talk about being scared when they tried a new thing or how much they laughed during this clip or remember a random question they want to ask about that clip.

So when I’m playing DJ Mom in my minivan and someone requests “vacation songs,” I pull up the playlist of Mimi’s special song selections (some of them are featured in this post). We sing. We remember. We anticipate the next adventure and wonder about the new songs we hope to sing together.