We were all sitting on the floor opening Christmas presents together when my kids said they had something for me. I waited for them to hand me something to unwrap, but instead they asked me to look up at our TV screen and watch a video they had made for me. As the video started and the song came on and I saw what they had put together there was no way I could hold back the tears…

You see, over the last four years our little family of four (me, my husband Rollin, my son Dalton, and my daughter Ashley) has grown to become a family of 5 when Dalton married Alexis, then 6 when Ashley married Alex, 7 with the birth of my grandson Flynn, and now 8 with the birth of our granddaughter Magnolia.  So in four years our family has doubled in size.

What my children had put together in this short little 2 minute 53 second video was the most creative way in the world to show that unfold: They started with all of them sitting and looking through photos of our family over the last four years and as each one of them picks up favorite photos the video jumps into a clip of that moment and then returns to the present to show the kids reacting to the memories they have of those moments. The way the video was edited shows in such a powerful way how meaningful those moments of our family growing were. Seconds into watching it I had tears running down my cheeks as I watched it for the first time. It was the most meaningful gift my kids could have given me….I couldn’t ask for more…

I could go on and on about how amazing the way they edited this video was but it’s better if I let you see it for yourself:

I shared the video on Facebook and had several people reach out to inquire if my daughter Ashley, who created this video, is available to hire to have her make something similar for their families and she said she is. 

Honestly, this was the most treasured gift I received this Christmas and I’m actually hoping my kids will start giving me videos like this for every holiday and birthday gift from now on because I couldn’t ask for more.

~Amy Rees Anderson (author of the book “What Awesome Looks Like: How To Excel in Business & Life” )