Family

— stopping by the hospital on my way out of New York to see my cousin – who had just had an operation. His wife was there (I feel silly calling her “his wife” – she’s a member of our family, for God’s sake, and has been for years) – and also my uncle … an anxious time, a scary family time, so it was so so good to see everyone, to listen, to talk, to laugh, a quiet morning spent basking in the glow of those I love.

— my parents. My God, my parents. I hover over them lovingly at all times. Even when I am not with them.

— my sister Jean. Her dog Hudson. Jean and I lying in bed in the upstairs room laughing so long and so loud about that Diary Friday that tears streamed down our faces.

— my sister Siobhan. Playing the piano, waiting anxiously for her gifts to arrive via postal service. Cooking her amazing brussel sprouts dish and also a yummy cranberry pie. Wrestling with Hudson on the floor. And then, when we were watching The Muppet Movie, poor Hudson was lying next to her, wagging his tail right in her face, batting her with it, oblivious in his joy and contentment to how obnoxious he was being. Siobhan brought her old VHS tape of The Muppet Family Christmas, and we watched it, howling with laughter at poor Miss Piggy, trying to push her snow-bound taxi out of a drift, her snout getting angry and downturned, as the mud poured over her. It was great to see how much Cashel enjoyed it, too. His shoulders shaking with laughter about the Muppets falling on the ice-patch on the doorway … and he KEPT laughing about Miss Piggy shouting up at the cab driver, in her gutteral tough-dame voice, “GUN IT.”

— my brother Brendan. Devouring the book on The Replacements that he got for Christmas. He read it in less than 24 hours. Brendan: taking care of things, being a good dad, a good son, a good brother. The way he listens. The way he shares.

— Cashel. Being a good boy. Opening his presents and giving presents. Writing a note to Santa, leaving Fig Newtons and carrots. Cashel explaining to us at the dinner table that World of Warcraft is “highly addictive”. He made a comic book for all of us. He’s an amazing artist.

— Jean and I driving up to the “cousin brunch”, a yearly tradition – otherwise known as DA BRUNCH. My Aunt Geddy hosts it every year and as many cousins as possible from my mother’s side of the family converge. Uncle Timmy was there, wearing a cross between a Santa hat and court jester hat. He also had on bulky snow pants in case any of the children present wanted to go sledding. Doug … God, it is always so so good to see Doug, too. My cousins truly light up my life and I look forward to seeing them whenever possible. Owen is engaged – hooray! Kathleen, Lisa, Kelly, Jay, Meredith, Cecily, Owen … and all of the multiple children of the cousins, all of whom have increasingly complex Gaelic names. It sounds like an old-school County Mayo gathering, to hear my cousins round up their own children. Quote of the day came from my aunt, who recently had her music played at Carnegie Hall, and who just finished a stint teaching bell-ringing at a middle school: “I have discovered that not only do I hate bell-ringing as a musical form, but I hate bell-ringers.” hahahahaha SO GOOD to see everyone. Lisa, as always, making Jean and me laugh like lunatics. Rob was sorely missed – but he was at home with their youngest. Rob is so nuts that it is dangerous to sit near him at serious family functions. Oh, and as we left – my aunt (who hates bell ringers) followed us out to our car, and handed us a wine bottle, saying, “We made this beach plum cordial for you. It is completely un-drinkable. Merry Christmas!” Jean tried it later and said that she thought it wasn’t so bad!!

— Jean and I had to leave DA BRUNCH early – to race into Boston – to see my cousin Kerry in her last performance of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas at the Wang. We were sad to leave the gathering but excited about seeing Kerry in action. This is her third (is that right, Kerry? Or am I missing a year?) year doing this show – and we were thrilled to get to go see it. Jean and I got to the theatre, found our seats … and 5 minutes later were shocked and excited to see our aunt (Kerry’s mother) coming to sit down in the seat right next to us. What a surprise! We sat there, in the buzz and hubbub of the SPECTACULAR theatre – catching up with our aunt – sharing news, listening, talking … it was all wonderful and very Christmas-y. In this tough time, a rough time for us all … I do feel very buoyed up by the love of family. Surrounding us. In the same way that we have all surrounded our cousin in the hospital, buoying him up. It’s a blessing, it truly is. I just KNOW we are being thought of.

— And Kerry!!!! Holy mackerel. First of all, the show itself is a wonder. They have multiple companies … Kerry’s done the show in Boston twice, and in St. Paul once. If you ever see that it’s coming your way, do yourself a favor and SEE IT. Kerry played Betty (the Rosemary Clooney part) – and she gave me goosebumps. Her big dramatic number in the second act – where she’s wearing a black velvet dress – was truly spectacular – I think I held my breath the whole way thru – and Jean and I just huddled together in awe and love, beaming up how proud we were of our amazing cousin. Afterwards, Kerry took us (and about 48 people from her hometown who were also there that night) on a tour backstage – which was as large as a football stadium. It still was barely big enough to contain all of us following Kerry around – but it was awesome – to see the amount of work that goes into the production. We only got to spend about 2 seconds with Kerry because we had to get back home … Kerry was going out to a bar to watch the Patriots game, and oh how we wanted to join her! But still: what a wonderful job, a wonderful show. I murmured to Jean during the show, when the soldiers came out to pay tribute to their general, “Okay, are we about to get patriotic now? Because I seriously cannot TAKE IT if they do!” And of course they did, and there were salutes, and there was a teary-eyed yet macho general, and please, I wept, and made a general spectacle of myself. Christmas AND patriotism? Put a fork in me, Sheila’s done. Jean and I screamed and hollered for Kerry when she came out to take her bow. Pride! Bursting out of our chests!

— Phone calls thru Christmas day. Family. Talked with my uncle – the one I had seen only the day before – and told him about sitting next to my aunt (his wife!) at Kerry’s show. Good news about my cousin. He is home. We are all very thankful.

— Hudson got a squeaky toy for Christmas. He could not have been happier. He is such a good dog.

— I gave everybody the NESN DVD of the Red Sox 2007 season – so we all watched that. And re-lived it. Screaming at the same old spots. Raving about Jacoby. Ranting about Gagne (seriously, the vitriol we feel towards that man – people almost get violent). How much we love Padroia (little Buddy) – and Papelbon doing air guitar wearing a kilt. What?? Later on Christmas Day, I was watching NESN and they were playing Faith Rewarded – and Jean, Pat and I watched it. The moment before Dave Roberts’ steal … the steal of the century … Pat said, “God. I have goosebumps!” I did too. And we all know how it turned out.

— Mum brought home a Charlie Brown Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. The Advent Police of our town won’t arrest us!! We trimmed the tree together, the old cardboard box of ornaments taken out – all the painted macaroni ornaments of our childhood, taken out year after year. The old-school star on top. It looked really nice, even though the tree was really little. It was very sweet. I put my iPod in my parents stereo and played the Rat Pack Christmas CD that Mr. Bingley sent to me last year. A fire in the grate. I hadn’t gotten out of my pajamas all day.

— Last night, my 2 sisters and I (and Hudson) all slept in the same bed. We had to lie there, flat and solemn, like mummies in a tomb. It was hysterical. But we got a good 8 hours.

— Cashel did a magic trick with his Christmas magic top hat he got. It was quite impressive.

— Oh, and my mother – bless her heart – had been working hard on a gift for my most recent birthday. She had put out a call to all family members to send her memories, anecdotes, whatever – about me … via email. She had received them all and pasted them into a composition notebook – the black and white kind, the kind I use for my journals. So my God, it was like This Is Your Life reading all of that. Aunts, uncles, cousins – my cousin Emma, my cousin Susan – Cecily – Matt – Mike … all of their memories about me – It’s almost too much to deal with. I haven’t even processed half of what I read, it was so intense. It was a bombardment of love.

— A huge box arrived for me. What could it be? Took it inside – to find that my cousin Mike had sent me 5 books he picked up at a second-hand bookstore – books he found that he thought I might like. Patricia Neal’s autobiography (hoo yah!), a biography of Laurette Taylor, Cheryl Crawford’s autobiography, “Oak Leaves and Lavendar” by Sean O’Casey and lastly: The Sean O’Casey Reader – edited by the great Brooks Atkinson. I was SO touched that my cousin Mike would think of me and send me such things. I have been dying to read Neal’s book, in particular. Mike: you’re the best!!! It was a great capper to an intense family-focused Christmas week.