{The Big Black Thing}

So every Christmas we unpack all our holiday stuff--decorations, pictures, albums everything. This everything includes Christmas movies and books. I think that if we hide them away they are more special and loved even more when they are around. So when the movies come out we have some oldies but goodies that are of the VHS variety.

This year the boys pull it all out stick the movies in the handy Christmas basket and the books under the trees and on we go.

Until one day E comes in, with nothing in his hands while I am wrting lesson plans to ask "What do you we do the the big black thing?"

Me: "What?"

E: "In the movie bucket, the big black thing?"

Me: (i still have no clue what he is talking about and am just straing at him)

E: "You know it goes in the big black box but it isn't doing anything"

Me: (Still confused and having no clue)

E: "It was in with the movies so we can watch Home Alone 3"

Me: (finally I got it...the VHS tape of Home Alone 3 and the VCR!) and I start laughing and explain how it works and what to do.

My 7 year old has no clue what a VCR is or that at one time it was all we had to watch movies

Then tonight....

the 9 year old comes in and yes I was working on lesson plans again

K: "you know that V thing?"

Me: (looking at him wierd I am sure)

K: "We want to watch Home Alone 3" (followed by an eye roll by him)

Me: " the VCR you mean?"

K: "Yeah. How do we get it to go?"

Me: "You push play like I showed you before."

K: "but it is at the end and we need to get it to the start."

My child did not know how to rewind a movie or even thought that was a possibility that he would have to do that.....what have dvd players done to our thinking???

So we talk about how to rewind the movie and he goes to do it.....

From the other room I hear this conversation:

E:"Are we going to watch the movie?"

K: "We have to get it to the start first. Mom said to re---wind, re--wond, reee....to push that button."

E: "But the numbers are going backward."

K: "Well they must go forward when we watch so this is how it works....just wait Mom said it would work."

My poor babies....can't remember that it is called rewind and have no patience to see what will happen...I wonder if I should show them fast forward to get through the previews??

Maybe next year we should find all those old movies on dvd so they don't have to have this convsersation again next year.