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Family picture show
I had an unusual success on Christmas Day - well, I think it was success - as the provider of an entertainment which gave rise to unexpected and unprecedented hilarity. The family party consisted of six adults, and 5 children of both sexes, ranging from 5 to 15.
I was giving my son’s family a portable DVD player, and on Christmas morning, before going to have dinner with them, I suddenly decided to put a whole bunch of family photo files onto a CD, so that they could be run as a slideshow. I didn’t bother with checking through the files to put them in order or cut out duplicates. Well that wouldn’t matter, it was only a rough and ready idea anyway. But perhaps I should have checked them for ‘suitability’!
I could not have imagined that simple pictures of family life would have the audience giggling and screaming and jumping and rolling about in such a way. Celebrations of birthdays and festivals, holidays, dressing up, school photos, the arrival of new babies – all seemed pretty run of the mill pictures to me, of life as it is lived, except possibly one or two of their disgraceful granny’s more senile flights of fancy. Well - there were a couple of pregnant nearly-nude shots in there, and one of a newborn babe sleeping on his tummy, snapped from behind with his naked bottom in the air, and his tackle hanging free for all to see. 
The teenage girls were the worst, and probably started it, but before long the entire group was treating my slideshow as though it was a rather vulgar piece of pantomime slapstick, or a couple of comics exchanging jokes in dubious taste. I suppose the powerful champagne cocktails before lunch, and wine freely flowing while we ate, would have had something to do with it – but the girls had only been drinking non-alcoholic Schloer!
I had an unusual success on Christmas Day - well, I think it was success - as the provider of an entertainment which gave rise to unexpected and unprecedented hilarity. The family party consisted of six adults, and 5 children of both sexes, ranging from 5 to 15.
I was giving my son’s family a portable DVD player, and on Christmas morning, before going to have dinner with them, I suddenly decided to put a whole bunch of family photo files onto a CD, so that they could be run as a slideshow. I didn’t bother with checking through the files to put them in order or cut out duplicates. Well that wouldn’t matter, it was only a rough and ready idea anyway. But perhaps I should have checked them for ‘suitability’!
The teenage girls were the worst, and probably started it, but before long the entire group was treating my slideshow as though it was a rather vulgar piece of pantomime slapstick, or a couple of comics exchanging jokes in dubious taste. I suppose the powerful champagne cocktails before lunch, and wine freely flowing while we ate, would have had something to do with it – but the girls had only been drinking non-alcoholic Schloer!
7 comments:
Judith
A wonderful present which I can relate to, as my father (Avus, who can be found commenting on your blog)did the same for me.
I remember some time ago on Sunday evenings, the slide projector would come out,the screen erected and the next 2 hours would be spent having a slide show at home.
It is amazing that we can now access such lovely memories through the wonderful world of computers and dvd players.
A wonderful post, thank you
Pete
X
Yes - a "family disk" is a good way of perpetuating the past - as long as we have access to energy to display them!
Mrs Avus always prefers "hard copy" in the form of photo albums to leaf through. I suppose they are more permanent in some ways.
I suppose it depends what you're used to, Avus. I like albums too, as you usually get more than one picture to a page, and they can be laid out to show off a whole day or event. But CD storage is so much easier, and as my grandchildren are all growing up IT literate I see that as the way forward. Also it's quicker and less expensive for me to set up! Can you imagine trying to prepare six identical albums for six grandchildren, or even four for my four sons!
I was going through some frail, old, pre-digital family photos just the other day and realised how precious they are. I am going to get busy scanning them into my computer then burning CDs. Such a good idea. Then I can print brand new copies too!
This Christmas my son and new daughter-in-law visited from Sydney and she found baby photos of my son very entertaining! I can imagine the fun you had that day.
Wish I'd been there - we've had several such hilarious slide shows (my kids are all techies). My cousin, a photographer, took an old movie made of my parents' wedding in 1942 (my grandfather was a techie in his day, too!) and converted it to VHS. I love watching it. No doubt your kids will get longtime enjoyment from your "rough and ready" gift.
heyhey it is me Steffi again.. OMG, the baby looks really cute!!! erm is he your grandson?
Yes he is Steffi, he's the son of my eldest. But he's a big boy now of nearly 6. My eldest grandchild will be 14 in June, and my youngest has just turned 5 - 6 of them in all, 4 boys, 2 girls. I don't often post pictures of them because my sons don't like their children to be seen on the internet, and I have to respect that.
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