Brendan O'Carroll and wife Jenny Gibney have lifted the lid on keeping up their ‘magical’ Christmas Day traditions with their Mrs Brown’s Boys family - as they opened up on coping with grief and loneliness after the loss of loved ones.
The Mrs Brown’s Boys stars are set to return to the screens next weekend with their highly anticipated annual Christmas specials.
Despite the busy run up to this time of year for the cast and crew, Jenny said: “Christmas has always been magical for both of us.. We both love Christmas and we are always in Dublin."
Read more: Mrs Brown Christmas Special spoiler amid huge demand for live audience tickets
In agreement, creator and lead star Brendan added: “No matter what happens for me, any year, Christmas just seems to be magic. You know once you get to Christmas that everything is going to be OK.”
Speaking to RTE Guide, they went on to delve into their festive traditions, adding: “We have everyone around for breakfast, with matching pyjamas and we have a big fry-up and we see the grandkids and then everybody goes and does their own thing for the day.
“Then they all come back and we have a pyjama party on Christmas night. All the family, any cast and crew that are about.
“They all get in their pyjamas and they come and watch Mrs Brown’s Boys in our house with a few drinks. For us, it is the first time we have seen it.”
But the couple, who are currently in their home in Orlando Florida to unwind before the big day, also told how they, like many others, also face heartache during the festive season.
And whilst celebrating the Christmas spirit in the hit comedy, Brendan said they are mindful to acknowledge how this time of year can be tough for some at home in the story too.
“I always try to reflect that in the message at the end of the show.
“This year, her message is, ‘Christmas is a wonderful time, but it can also be a lonely time as well, so go into your contacts and pick somebody that you haven’t talked to in a long time.
“Pick up the phone and say ‘Merry Christmas’.
“Whether it’s my mum or my son, or Jenny’s dad, there’s not a Christmas that goes by where we don’t raise a glass to those who aren’t here and it’s a horribly melancholy moment.
“We think about them all the time, but it is that particularly stark thing at Christmas where your mam is not sitting across from you at the table," the Dubliner added.
Jenny says, “I always think of that quote, ‘The sadness now is part of the happiness then, that’s the deal.”
“The day after my mam died I had to go with my brother Michael to pick out a coffin and on the way back we stopped for a coffee in Bewleys.
“I am sitting down looking around the place and I can see a man reading the paper, or a woman doing a crossword, and people chatting and laughing, and I wanted to stand up and go, ‘WTF is wrong with you people? Don’t you know my mother has died?’
“It is that thing of looking around and you can’t believe when you see people going about their usual routine, so I really understand that Christmas is a wonderful time, it really is but for so many people they are not looking forward to it. It is very hard.”
Jenny adds: “I suppose you remember all the magical Christmases you had with your loved ones. Every time we tell a story, that’s how we keep them alive. We are the memory keepers now.”
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