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Raleigh Viral Video: 'Xmas Jammies' Close To 11 Million Youtube Views

family dancing

We've been following the story of a local family and their holiday video that has gone viral. We noticed it when it had 1.5 million Youtube views.

Here's our original story, posted 12/17/13:

Possibly the cutest Christmas viral video ever features local Raleigh-based WNCN anchorman Penn Holderness, his wife Kim, six-year-old daughter Lola, and four-year-old son Penn Charles.

The song is really catchy:

"Dancing in the front yard night and day..

... and the neighbors walk by, this is what they say:

...'Are those Christmas jammies???'"

The video details the family's accomplishments during the past year. Lola can count to 100 in Chinese. Penn Charles wears superhero shirts every day. Mom Kim got a part in Ironman III.

SPOILER ALERT:

Don't read any more if you want to be surprised at the end of the video.

STILL READING?

Here's the lyrics, Kim sings about Penn: "But the biggest thing is what happens next. Next month he's steppin' off of the anchor desk. It's the biggest decision of his life, he's gonna quit his job and come work with his wife. We'll be making videos just like these, for politicians and companies. And we'll do it in these jammies. In these Christmas jammies."

Here's Penn's blog.

Update 12/19 8:25 a.m:

The video is now a holiday hit, perhaps even a classic.

Last night it passed the 3 million mark. This morning, it is closing in on 11 million views from people around the world.

Here's what Penn Holderness says on his blog, in an entry titled, 'oh, hi everyone...didn't see you there':

so, um, holy crap. I’ve always wondered what it means to go viral – and here we are. Our greenroom website has crashed (fixing it). So far we have been on Fox and Friends, GMA, GMA again, HLN, and Greta Von Susteren. But for me, the greatest part of all this was getting a call from Jeannie Moos at CNN. If you stick with me on this blog, you’ll see that my work, and my writing is pretty original. But I don’t hold a candle to Jeanne. She has been my favorite reporter for over a decade now. Not just because she makes me laugh, because I think she understands people better than anyone in the business. My daughter, who could only hear her voice in the interview, asked if “that was Mrs. Claus.” Jeanne, if you are reading this I hope you know that is about as big a compliment as a 6-year old can give.

Carol Jackson has been with WUNC since 2006. As Digital News Editor, she writes stories for wunc.org, and helps reporters and hosts make digital versions of their radio stories. She is also responsible for sharing stories on social media. Previously, Carol spent eight years with WUNC's nationally syndicated show The Story with Dick Gordon, serving as Managing Editor and Interim Senior Producer.
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