A Thanksgiving Tradition

As a kid, I always thought it was kind of silly to do certain things on holidays for no other reason than "because we always do this."  As my sister and I got older, we became less interested in doing things out of tradition. We couldn't see the reason for putting on Christmas music whenever someone opened up the Sears catalog because "that's what we always do.." or not putting up the tree until Christmas Eve because "that's when we always do it..."  It's better to be practical and not force others into situations they don't want to be in. That's my opinion, anyway. 

For the last several Thanksgivings we've been taking the kids to the playground behind Bennett Elementary where I usually photograph and videotape them playing. I edit the video, add some funny music and it usually makes for 2 minutes of mildly entertaining shenanigans. The kids love it, and watch it throughout the year.  We always ask them if it's something they still like to do and they always say yes. But....the kids are much older now, and some of the silliness I've managed to capture in the past just doesn't happen anymore. That makes editing much more challenging. I still haven't edited last years video...

This year was the first year I've had the 5D Mark II to record video with. I also managed to get a few pics. The picture above was given the "retro" look I've been playing with recently in Photoshop and the one below was made using Silver Efex Pro and Photoframes.

So while our tradition of going to this particular playground on Thanksgiving may not seem like any big deal, it has been a big deal to the kids for some time and I think we might be approaching the end of it. The video editing is still a long way off. I really need to get to work on last years..