DiNozzo Family Holiday
DiNozzos make a family Chanukah and Christmas video for 2031: Tony, guitar and singing, Ziva, singing, Tali, piano and singing, Anthony, singing, Rivka and Beth, singing and dancing, LJ, drums and singing
"Ima, Abba," Anthony was excited; he had come up with an idea for their annual Chanukah/Christmas photo shoot that he thought was better than having just pictures. He just about ran to the dining room table when Ima called the family to dinner.
"Slow down, kiddo," Tony smiled at his older son. "What has you all excited?"
"I have the perfect idea for our holiday pictures this year. Instead of pictures, let's do a video. We could even have all of us sing. Tali could play the piano, LJ on drums, and Abba on guitar. Maybe even have Riv and Beth dance or do some gymnastic routines. What do you think?"
Ziva smiled at her son, "We would need to practice, but I like that idea. Who would shoot the video for us?"
"Uncle Tim," Rivka and Beth added together. "He has video cameras and he shoots video at every holiday for the family."
"The DiNozzo Family Singers," Tony joked to Ziva, referring to one of her favorite movies. "Seriously, though, I like the idea. It's something different, and certainly doable. We can start practicing now."
"We will have to think of what songs to perform," Ziva told them all. "I think we should do one for Chanukah and one for Christmas."
The kids suggested some popular Chanukah songs: 'Dreidel Song;' 'Oh Chanukah, Oh Chanukah;' and 'Maoz Tzur.' They also suggested popular Christmas songs: 'Jingle Bells;' 'Here Comes Santa Claus;' 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas;' and 'The Christmas Song.'
Tony shook his head, "No, we want something different; something that not everyone knows. There is a Chanukah song that was performed by Peter, Paul and Mary called 'Light One Candle.' I am trying to pull it up on my phone."
"WHO?" all five kids asked together.
"A singing group from the nineteen sixties. They later reunited and performed until two thousand nine." Tony found the song he wanted and pressed play on the music app on his phone. As the family listened to the song, each one nodded and agreed that would be the perfect song for Chanukah.
"I'll see if I can order the sheet music through the store," Tali volunteered. She could get an employee discount of twenty five percent on most music, and up to forty percent off on some.
"What about a Christmas song? Since the Chanukah song is telling the story of Chanukah, I think the Christmas song we choose should tell the story of Christmas." Ziva added her opinion to the discussion.
"How about 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'?" Anthony suggested.
"Not really good for drums and guitar," Tali replied. "These are too obvious: 'Little Drummer Boy;' 'Silent Night;' and 'Away in a Manger'."
Again, Tony suggested the song that they would all agree upon: 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' "It has piano, drums and guitar parts and enough harmony that we can have different vocal parts. What do you think?"
Ziva thought about Tony's suggestion, "I like that idea. I was thinking 'Hallelujah Chorus' but we really don't have someone to sing the bass part."
Tali knew she could get the sheet music for the song through the store. "Ima, I think you should be the lead on vocals." The others agreed quickly.
~One month later~
Anthony stopped the recording after the family finished performing the two songs. It was just a basic recording with two input mics, mostly to hear how they sounded together and how the various parts meshed. He had been reading up on vocal recording techniques and really wished they could rent a recording studio for a few hours to record the vocals and instrumentals properly.
The family listened to the playback on Anthony's laptop computer. "Wow, we sound pretty good," Rivka grinned at her twin; Beth agreed.
"I wish we could record at a studio," Anthony spoke up. "We could get the separate tracks for vocal and instrumental and then mix them to sound the best possible. Once we have the soundtrack, Uncle Tim can record the video to go with it, and we would have a professional looking final product."
Tali thought a few minutes and then spoke up, "Let me ask around; I know some people who might be able to help. One's a customer at the store, and one is in my human behavior class at the college. He is a music major and may have access to the college studios."
Several days later, Tali came home smiling, "We have a recording date set. The best part is it will cost us nothing. Tyler has to do a final project for one of his classes that requires him to record and mix vocals and instrumentals. He was going to hire a group to record, but when I asked about getting time for our family, he asked if we would be willing to help him out in exchange for recording for us. We would be giving him credit for recording and mixing on our family video. I told him I would have to check with the rest of you, but it should be a go."
"YES!" the DiNozzos all agreed that the timing was perfect. "How soon can he record?" Ziva asked.
Tali sent a text message to Tyler, and his reply came back quickly, 'How about Saturday at 10? I have the studio all day.' She read the message to her family.
"We can do it," Tony looked around the table; all of them agreed.
'Saturday at 10 is good. See you there.' Tali sent the message back to Tyler.
'Great; I have electronic keyboard and percussion set, but need to bring a guitar with you. Thanks for helping me.'
'Thanks for helping US!'
On Saturday, Tali drove her car with her sisters and met her parents and brothers at the college campus. Tony followed her to the music building and Tyler met them at the entrance. After introductions by Tali, the family followed Tyler to the studio. Anthony was immediately fascinated by the equipment, and Tyler promised to show him how to use it.
"Okay, first we are going to have you practice each song in the recording studio, so you can get used to the equipment and I can make individual adjustments. There will be mics for each person for vocals and one for the guitar and one for the drums. If we need one for the keyboard, we can add that later. Since the keyboard is digital, I can record directly from it, Tali." Tyler explained to the family.
"Let's get started."
The family performed the Christmas song first. Tyler gave them a thumb's up from the sound booth. He was surprised at how well the family balanced and that they needed very little adjustment to the mics. He made note of the settings for the final recordings.
"Okay; next song. You guys are terrific!" Tyler was impressed. The family was much better than he expected; he figured he could not have done better with quality if he had hired a group.
Tony started the chords for "Light One Candle." Tali came in on the keyboard and Ziva then started the vocals. The three vocal solos were shared by Ziva, Tony and Anthony with the others providing harmony and background. Tyler grinned at them from the sound booth and gave them two thumbs up.
"WOW; you guys are really good. Have you thought about recording professionally?"
"Nah, we're just doing this for fun," Tony replied. "It all started because we decided to do a video Christmas card this year instead of a family portrait."
"Well, you could make money as a group, if you wanted. My dad has been in the recording business since before I was born, and most of the groups he has promoted have way less talent than you all do." Tyler would set them up with his dad if they asked.
"Thank you for the compliment, Tyler, but we are just an ordinary family having fun doing something we like," Ziva smiled at him.
She looked over at Anthony who was writing notes on a piece of paper, "What are you doing, Anthony?"
"Writing out some ideas for the video, Ima. For the Chanukah part, I want to record the family lighting the shammus candle and then the other candles on the menorah. Abba or you can start us off and then we can each light a candle. For the Christmas part, I have a few ideas. Maybe decorating the tree or hanging the stockings, but that seems too ordinary. I'll think about it some more. Does anybody have any ideas?"
Tyler broke in to the conversation, "Let's get the soundtrack recorded! Christmas first."
The family set up for 'Do You Hear What I Hear?' as Tyler prepped the equipment. He counted down for them with his fingers: 3 – 2 – 1
"Said the night wind to the little lamb
Do you see what I see
Way up in the sky little lamb
Do you see what I see
A star, a star
Dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite
Said the little lamb to the Shepard boy
Do you hear what I hear
Ringing through the sky Shepard boy
Do you hear what I hear
A song, a song
High above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea
Said the Shepard boy to the mighty king
Do you know what I know
In your palace wall mighty king
Do you know what I know
A child, a child
Shivers in the cold
Let us bring him silver and gold
Let us bring him silver and gold
Said the king to the people everywhere
Listen to what I say
Pray for peace people everywhere
Listen to what I say
The child, the child
Sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light"
Tali and Tony played the final notes and Tyler motioned to them that the recording was stopped. "Take a break and we'll do the Chanukah music in about twenty minutes."
Each DiNozzo stretched and grabbed a bottle of water. "This is fun, Abba," LJ spoke up, "Can we do it again?"
"We shall see," Ziva agreed that the singing together was fun, but it did take a lot of their time to practice and so far most of the day for recording. "We still have to record the video part as well."
Tyler called them back to the studio, "Let's record 'Light One Candle'."
The family got back in place and again Tyler counted down to recording: 3 – 2 – 1
"Light one candle for the Maccabee children
With thanks that their light didn't die
Light one candle for the pain they endured
When their right to exist was denied
Light one candle for the terrible sacrifice
Justice and freedom demand
But light one candle for the wisdom to know
When the peacemaker's time is at hand
Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears.
Light one candle for the strength that we need
To never become our own foe
And light one candle for those who are suffering
Pain we learned so long ago
Light one candle for all we believe in
That anger not tear us apart
And light one candle to find us together
With peace as the song in our hearts
Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears.
What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
That we cry out they've not died in vain?
We have come this far always believing
That justice would somehow prevail
This is the burden, this is the promise
This is why we will not fail!
Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our hope and our tears.
Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!
Don't let the light go out!"
The vocals and music stopped together and Tyler gave them a thumb's up and motioned that the recording had ended. He called them into the sound booth and played back each song. "I still have some tweaking to do, but this is pretty much how the finished audio will sound."
They all listened to the songs and nodded approval. "Wow, are we really that good?" Tali asked no one in particular.
Tyler grinned, "Yes. I did very little adjustment to any of you. You guys are THAT good. May I share this with my dad, please?"
"Okay, but we aren't interested in doing anything for money. This was just a fun family project," Tony spoke on behalf of the family. "How soon can we get the finished recording?"
"In about two weeks," Tyler replied, "I'll give it to Tali in class."
~Video~
Anthony mentioned that he wished he had his own video camera one night at dinner, instead of having to ask to borrow Uncle Tim's. Ziva looked at Tony and they both nodded. She got up and went to the master bedroom, coming back with a plain brown box.
She handed the box to Anthony, "This is an early Chanukah and Christmas present." Anthony opened the box and found a compact digital video camera, with a remote, a tripod, connectors for the computer and two external mics. His grin said it all.
"Thank you, Ima. Thank you, Abba." Anthony hugged each of his parents. Tony motioned that his siblings were in on the present as well. "Thank you, Tali, Riv, Beth and LJ." He hugged each of them. "WOW!"
As the family finished dinner, Anthony explained the scenes he wanted to shoot to them. For the Chanukah portion, he wanted to have Ima start by saying the blessings for the eighth night of Chanukah and light the shammus and first candles. At the end of the blessings, the audio track of the music would start. Ima would pass the shammus to Abba, who would light the second candle, then to Tali and down the line, LJ lighting the seventh candle. Once that was lit, all of them would put their hands together as they lit the eighth and final candle together. He asked that Abba and LJ also wear their kippahs, as would he, and Ima to wear her tichel, to make the lighting of the menorah more traditional. They all agreed.
He also would video a spinning dreidel, some traditional Chanukah food and a pile of gelt. Ziva also suggested using the Israeli flag somehow, which Anthony readily agreed.
For the Christmas part, he asked Abba to read the Christmas story from Luke 2:1 - 20. He would video the decorating of the tree, a crèche and Christmas cookies as part of the Christmas portion. Their vocal track would overlay the images after the reading played.
~The Finished Video~
Anthony put the video together mostly by himself, but needed Tyler's help with some syncing with the music tracks. Tali took her brother to campus to meet with Tyler on a Saturday, and the two got the problem straightened out in about an hour and one half. Tyler mentioned to the siblings that his dad had been very impressed with the family's performances, and that his music production professor had asked several times how to contact the family for a performance.
"Sorry, Tyler, we are just doing this one time," Tali reiterated her parents' previous replies.
The following day, Anthony had the family join him in the family room for the first viewing of the finished video. Ziva and Tony were astounded, not only had the audio track been much better than they expected, but Anthony had also done awesome work with the video.
"Is that really us?" LJ joked and his family laughed.
Anthony burned the video to DVD for his parents to send to family and friends. Aunt Nettie called from Israel the day she received her DVD, almost in tears of happiness.
"Very beautiful, Zivaleh. You have a beautiful family. You and Anthony should be very proud of the children." Ziva put Aunt Nettie on speaker and she greeted all of them.
Ziva sent the DVDs to family and friends in the DC area right after Thanksgiving.
Abby was the next to call. She was so excited, Tony could barely understand her. He could hear Leon in the background trying to calm her down. "When did you find time to record that awesome video?" Abby asked.
"We made the time, Abby," Ziva replied to her sister of the heart. "It is something we all decided we wanted to do. Tali's friend Tyler also helped a lot."
"Do we get a live performance? That would be so cool!"
"We will think about it; maybe at a family dinner at our house," Ziva replied.
An hour or so after Abby called, Delilah sent Ziva a text, 'AWESOME video!'
Tim sent a text to Tony, 'WOW; how are you going to top that next year?'