Rediscovering Family Memories: A Holiday Visit, Old Home Videos, and a Grandmother’s Kiss

Since Mom only has cable and no internet at home, I made a point to load my MacBook with a mix of movies, television shows, and home videos before heading in for the holidays. I figured it would give us something meaningful to watch together during the quieter moments.

We watched footage from her parents’ 40th anniversary party, along with a collection of other family recordings—reunions from both sides of the family. One DVD, in particular, included several years’ worth of footage from my dad’s mother’s side of the family. I’d seen parts of it before, but this time something new stood out. I was seeing this clip for the first time. As usual, I was glued to my grandmother’s side—until she gently pulled me close and kissed me on the cheek.

Every year, I attended these reunions with my grandparents, and my mom, dad, and brother would arrive later. Because of that, I spent hours with my great-aunts, great-uncles, and their families—an opportunity I wish my brother had experienced growing up. We didn’t have video cameras in our house, and phones with cameras were still decades away, which makes this footage even more meaningful. It may be one of the only video snapshots of us from that chapter of life.

I’m deeply grateful to my Aunt Jan and her husband, Paul, for taking the time to document those moments. Because of them, pieces of our family history still exist—not just in memory, but on screen.