Today my family took a family picture. It had been years since we had taken one. Actually, the last time we took a familial pictorial was when I was at NYU, my brother was finishing undergrad at Brown and my sister was still in high school. It looked like Ronald McDonald did my makeup while on crack for the last one plus I was a little hefty. Perhaps it was best we took another.
So we did. This picture was a little different. For one we weren’t all in white which was nice. Being a coffee drinker I would have most definitely stained my shirt ruining the entire photo. Of course there was the fact I fired Ronald McDonald as my makeup artist. Then there was the edition of the Santa hats. Oh and lets not forget my brother’s wife Stacy. Yes my brother Billy is married as hard as it may be for me to fathom. Brenna isn’t married yet, thank God. She doesn’t have a child yet which is good because she is not married. Actually Brenna is in her third year of medical school at Brown and is doing well. So that brings me to myself. I almost got married at twenty one and thank God I didn’t otherwise it would have been a nightmare. Oh and we have no progeny as a result of our hot mess of a union.
Another thing we did was stick Santa hats on and stood around a Ginger Bread house. It was actually sort of fun. At first we were dreading this nightmare. My mother wanted a family picture and whatever Mama Brucker wants Mama Brucker gets.
While getting photographed I saw some former classmates of mine. Darah was there with her husband Denny and their daughter Audrey. I remember it was just yesterday Darah was cheerleading and Denny was a star hockey player. I always liked them both. Denny was a guest on Apriltalk back in my BPTV days and I believe Darah was actually a cheerleading captain I believe. She was always trying to get me to go out for cheerleading. I was popular but I always said I wasn’t a cheerleader. Okay, I wanted to be one deep down but truth be told I couldn’t do the straddle jump. I was awful at it. Then there was Angie, Denny’s sister, perhaps one of the sweetest girls ever and president of our class. I still remember what a wonderful job she did at commencement. Now she is married. Oh and her folks were there with an African American child Calvin that they adopted. I have a soft spot for people who adopt because I have six cousins who are adopted, two from Pittsburgh and four from Russia. So when people adopt and open their home freely to children who have been given up I can appreciate the sacrifice and know what good hearts those people have.
We went to a different Christmas mass than we have in previous years. My parents changed churches over the last year because of stuff that happened with the pastor. Anyway we went to this new mass and I actually did end up liking the church. The pastor was funny, a change from the church I grew up going to. Plus the people were HAPPY TO BE THERE. Another change from the church I grew up going to. The children were there in full force. Something that was absent in the church I grew up going to. Actually the priest in my church going up was pretty freaky. He crashed our CCD class once telling this disturbing parable of about a boy who wanted to behead a cat and then asked what Bible verse matched up. Oh and they would have these freaky visiting priests who barely spoke English that would talk ad nauseum. Here there seems to be none of that nuttiness. Heck if you were to visit the church I grew up going to you would probably never want to go to church again. This church on the other hand is a wonderful community. I think my folks have made a good change.
Tomorrow I will get to see my family. I will get to see my grandparents and my baby cousins and hear all about what Santa gave them, how they are doing in school and how Case and Notre Dame are treating them.
Bottom line: At the end of the day when you start to hate Christmas remember the meaning of the season is about finding meaning outside of yourself.
Yes, no matter how much you want to kill them it is about family. Love April
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