A Q&A with YouTube's favorite family

Struggling with the Thanksgiving turkey, buying school supplies, getting stuck in endless July 4th traffic: sound familiar? These are experiences many families have, and the Holderness family is putting them to music.

Penn and Kim Holderness and their children, Lola, 7, and Penn Charles, 4, first came on the YouTube scene last year with their video Christmas card, "#Xmas Jammies". They've been busting out their unique brand of parodies and original s0ngs ever since. While some YouTube parodies may be NSFW, theirs are totally SFS (safe for school).

Their videos are quickly relatable, though your resident Internet-fluent millennial may roll his eyes. The Holdernesses know they're a little cheesy, but isn't every family?

Here's their Meghan Trainor send-up to give you an idea of what they're about:

CBS News: Penn, you've had a pretty extensive career in news, right?

Penn Holderness: I did. About 18 years in either local news or sports. Kim also did about 10 years as well.

How did you first get into songwriting?

PH: Two years ago we decided that our kids they wouldn't sit still in any of our Christmas photos, so we decided to make a Christmas video. And it wasn't a parody, it was an original song. Our parents and friends thought we should make another one next year, and that was last year and Kim made the suggestion that we make a parody of a song, and we'd never done that before. We also knew that we were leaving our jobs and we were going to start doing a full-time production company. So we wanted to make something a little more high-level and spend a little more time with it. So that was the "#Xmas Jammies" video, which did quite well. It has 15 million views, I think. We did not expect that, it was quite nice, and a good springboard to be able to do what we're doing now.

Tell us about the decision to quit your job. Was there a specific moment or was it more gradual?

Kim Holderness: I had actually been trying to convince Penn to quit his job for a very long time. For like three years, and I kept offering him a job and the offer went like this: I can't offer you any money at all but you'll be home for dinner. And in the news business, the hours are so unpredictable, like three to midnight, so he never saw us at all. So we just got to the point where we said, 'Let's do it. Let's make the leap. What's the worst thing that's gonna happen.' And we had no money, no savings, and I said we could live with your parents and sleep in their basement. And it would be terrible but that would be the worst that could happen. And we made the leap and we're so thankful.

How's your production company going now?

PH: It's really cool! It's been a combination of a number of things: one part has been being behind the camera and being able to produce videos for regional and national brands with the same vibe and spirit the we did with our family videos. The other side is being on camera. We've made more of our family videos, and it's really cool because we can partner up with national brands like Weight Watchers where it actually kind of syncs with our lives. Kim has been a Weight Watchers member before, and we're terrible about eating over the holidays.

That's why you're in New York City now, right?

KH: We are taking NYC by storm today. We are Christmas caroling. Penn in his very Penn way has taken these carols and changed the words to them, making them really festive and funny.

PH: We just published a video today on our channel. I think it's pretty hilarious. It lets you know that Weight Watchers is there and helps with the hard part, and it points to what we all do during the holidays. [Overeat.] We had a lot of fun with it.

Who writes the music?

KH: They come from Penn and I'm the person who has to reel him back in. He thinks of all his best ideas in the shower.

PH: It's true. Once you have kids it is the only place where no one will bother you.

KH: But yeah, I'm just the backup dancer. I'm a horrible, horrible singer. And that's okay, honestly who cares right? If only people who could really sing were the ones who sang, that wouldn't be any fun.

Yeah, there wouldn't be any pop stars who were famous.

KH: Exactly! And our kids have so much fun with these. It's really true, we treat them like George Clooney. We get the lights set up, we hit record, and if they're into it they're into it and if not, they're not.

PH: They loved this last video we did, they really do get a kick out of the process. And if they don't want to participate we don't make them at all.

What would you say to people who dismiss your videos as being too cheesy?

KH: They're correct. We embrace the cheese. Literally and figuratively. We like to have fun, and if people think it's cheesy, well they're certainly entitled to that opinion. Most of the feedback we get is 'Wow, you're exactly like my family. My family is goofy like that and I just thought we were weird.' So yeah, we've been having a blast.

Do you have a favorite video?

PH: My favorite one that we ever did was our snow day video. It was an original song about what happens when there's a snow day and the kids stay home, and they're excited for about 20 minutes and then it's total claustrophobia. The reason I liked that video is the kids couldn't get enough of it. I was like, 'We're gonna put a go-pro on a sled.' I think I have the most fun in my videos when the kids say, 'Let's keep going.'"

What's next?

PH: We don't think ahead. We should but we don't. We kind-of wait for something to happen in our lives, then we make it rhyme.

The Holderness family has a reality show premiering on UPTV in February. They're starting with a two-episode pilot documenting their business and the videos they do for other companies. Their own production company is co-producing, so anything that takes place in their house will be shot by family members.

"If it works, we'll keep going," Penn said. "But it's gonna be low-impact on the kids."