What’s Your Favorite Holiday Memory?

This time of year, nostalgia reigns as we recall Christmases past. People often discuss what their favorite memory is or the best gift they’ve ever received, but when people ask me what mine are, I have a hard time answering. To me, each memory stands on its own – if I recall the Christmas at 7 years old when Santa brought me the Little Mermaid doll I wanted so much, how I can compare that to decorating the tree with Jai at 27? Each Christmas brings its own unique moments that are recalled as part of the big picture of your life and treasured in their own right.

This is a photo of me as a little kid on Christmas morning. The photo doesn’t have a date, but I’m going to guess it’s from around 1987 or so. We were still living in England at this time, and would spend Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa Ashcroft’s house. On Christmas Eve, I slept in my Glo Worm sleeping bag on the living room floor and was so excited for Santa to come! I have a distinct memory of laying there and as I drifted off on the threshold of a dream, I heard jingle bells and I knew that Santa must be on the roof. When I woke up, I had a stocking by my sleeping bag and got to see all of the wonderful things Father Christmas had brought. I’ll never forget the magic of “Hearing” Santa’s sleigh!

This photo was taken on Christmas Day 2003 – it the first Christmas that Jai and I ever spent together. It was also the first Christmas that I spent as an adult living on my own, without any of my relatives there. My mom, Grandpa Ashcroft, and one of my uncles had all passed away in the months prior to December, and everything felt so bizarre and foreign. Jai was a rock for me throughout everything and was an incomparable source of comfort during the darkest of times, and his relatives welcomed me into their homes and celebrations with open arms. Ten years later, Jai’s family is part of my family too and although I will not remember 2003 as a happy Christmas, I will forever appreciate the support of my loved ones.

I had to chuckle when I pulled out my scrapbooks to scan some of these pictures – it doesn’t seem that long ago, but I was still using a film camera to take photos ten years ago and now that seems so antiquated. OK, I still use film cameras because I have fun with them, but I do take most pictures with digital now! 😉 I have boxes and boxes of family photos on both my mom and dad’s side that I consider to be precious heirlooms, and I’ve tried to scan as many as possible to share with my family so that they can have copies of anything they don’t already. Someday, I want to make the time to scan and organize a large batch of them, so that I can share them with the whole family and also identify some of the people pictured that I don’t recognize so that the information doesn’t get lost to the ages. I even have a Super-8 film that my mom had taken in the ’80s that no one has ever seen – apparently, my mom knew someone with a camera and asked them to take a film of the family when I was a baby. We didn’t have a Super-8 player to actually watch it on, but she knew it would be important to have down the line. She was right as always and I’m anxious to see it – I found a Super-8 player at a rummage sale, but I have to figure out how to hook it up. Fortunately, there are places I can turn if I can’t get it to work!

YesVideo is a company that transfers your memories to a modern-day format. From old home movies on film formats or VHS to old slides and photos, YesVideo offers conversion from these formats to DVD and HD Blu-Ray. To get started, you can either mail in your photos and videos directly to the company, or drop it off at the Sam’s Club photo counter. This would be a wonderful way to preserve your holiday memories! As you’ve probably gathered from this post, my family and memories – on my mom’s side, on my dad’s side, and on Jai’s side – are precious to me, so I love that technology has created new and amazing ways to preserve and share these moments! The deadline has already passed to order DVDs for Christmas arrival, but it could still be a nice New Year’s gift or way to create a Christmas mash-up from Christmas 2012 and years past.

For more information on this service, please visit YesVideo.com and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter for updates.