Does this count as “Christmas in July”? This film, two reels worth, was shot by my father on Christmas Day 1974 when I was 2.5 years old in Garfield Heights, Ohio.

Presents in order of appearance:
A virtually indestructible plastic toddler activity table and chairs.
A Tonka Aerial Ladder Fire Truck 2960 – which I still have.
A Tonka Motor Mover.
A Weebles West set.

As an artist, my mother prided herself on her handmade bows and perfect ribbon. Unfortunately, you needed bolt cutters and tin snips to remove them. Enjoy her frustration at my progress of opening such said item without such said tools – as she escalates into “just rip the stupid paper”!

Watching two presentthemes movies in a row shows that my unwrapping method clearly bothered everyone. I would take my time finding the seam and then would rip off one piece at a time and discard it. Sort of like putting a puzzle together in reverse. I would also get easily distracted – as can be seen with the fire truck. At one point I become more interested with what is on the coffee table – than the brand new toy in the box in front of me!

Some items of interest I notice. The prototypical large TV cabinet. Our large – very bad idea parental units – white couch. One time I poured red KoolAid in all the buttons on the cushions. The risky live Christmas tree that takes up most of the living room – as the prior year I shoved handfuls of needles into my mouth and actually stopped breathing. I do remember hearing comments growing up about my mother’s tree decorating skills – the tree is in a corner set of windows easily visible from the street. My giant tabby cat Linus makes an appearance on the floor by the coffee table near the end when I am playing with the Weebles on the table.

A note on how most of these home movies end the same. There was a ritual where my father would advise me that there was only a few feet of film left. I would then “wave” goodbye. Would most people call it a “wave”? My mother used to say I “looked like I was counting money”. I’m not sure what she meant. But it was definitely not a proper wave.

Originally filmed on a Kodak Instamatic M26 super 8mm camera. Digitized with a Kodak Reelz and edited with DaVinci Resolve Studio. All products used were purchased by me for my own personal use.