In just three short months, it will be my mother’s 100th birthday.

I am getting ready to produce a 15-minute video presentation to show at Great-Grandma Sue’s birthday party.

The presentation, made with iMovie, will consist of photos and video clips, and will be projected onto a large screen in my living room. Some photos go back to my mom’s grandparents. And there are photos of my mom with family members through the years.

I have asked family members to email me video clips of their families sending birthday greetings to my mom.

I asked the children in each family to email me the names of their favorite characters, along with a short, 3- to 4-sentence monologue or

Dialogue mentioning Great- Grandma Sue.

Utilizing my new computer program, CrazyTalk, I will animate, and add interesting voices to the faces of the characters the children love.

I know that my granddaughters love Peppa Pig and Elmo.  So, I have begun to save video clips from their cartoons.  Then I will take a screenshot of a frame from a cartoon.  I will import the new picture into Crazytalk, and add facial recognition markers, some interesting teeth, and an interesting voice.  Peppa Pig will speak with a British accent, and Elmo’s voice will be that of a young male.

With Elmo standing next to his friend Abby, I first create an avatar of Elmo talking, and turn it into a movie clip. Then I create a separate avatar of Abby talking, and that becomes a movie clip.  Once the two clips are placed together in iMovie, in the middle of a video clip, it will appear that Elmo and Abby have just stopped whatever they were doing to have a conversation about Great- Grandma Sue.

The Crazytalk program even allows me to have the listening character respond with body language.

A wild but spooky idea I had was to create an avatar of my late father talking in his own voice to my mother at the party.  I rejected this idea quickly because it would be too scary.

Another idea is for my 5-year-old avatar to appear, telling the audience how much he loves his mommy.  I also rejected this idea.

I will be creating 2D avatars for the party, but the program allows for 3D avatars as well. One day soon, I predict that 3D avatar-creating technology will be applied to household holograms.  Won’t it be cool to have your great-grandfather appear on your nightstand to wish you a restful sleep?

Or, how about an avatar album where, each time the page turns, a hologram relative pops up to remind you how important you are to the family.

How lucky I am to be a grown-up kid with a mom.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertzebsen@gmail.com