A Million Little Pieces Of My Mind

Nestled in our little Division of Forestry bungalow in Florida, winter looked just the same as summer. But inside we were ready for Christmas! I had gotten myself an early Christmas present with money I'd inherited from my Aunt Lou: a Super 8mm movie camera. Each Super 8 cartridge held 2.5 minutes' worth of film at 24 frames per second. In 1975, a standard 50?foot Kodak Super 8 cartridge (Kodachrome or Ektachrome) typically cost about $5?$7 for the film itself, and processing added another $3?$5, making the total roughly $8?$12 per cartridge. Adjusted for inflation, that's about $45?$70 in today's dollars (2025).

So, given that my inheritance was extremely modest—it pretty much covered the movie camera alone—you can see why my first video expression of that long-ago Christmas is more an emotional impression than a documentary. Still, it is what it is and I've attempted to improve the exposure, contrast, and saturation. And I can make out a few of those beloved faces, so there's that!

So here, for two and a half minutes, are my kids Dorothy, Karen and Jenny. John was about six weeks old and so didn't run to the tree or open a present, though we did get him a nice, new teething ring, for when he would need it.