The Byrne Diaspora

God be with us

Our aunt Mary Lou was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer. Her husband Phil (Dad's brother) has set up a web site that is keeping us posted regarding her care. His post today made me cry:

yes, She will;
yes, She will;
yes, She will.

Keep us all in Her arms.

The day after

Francie wrote me this lovely note after our Christmas visit:

December 26 is the anniversary of Grammy's mother's death. She died from influenza, leaving behind Grammy age two and baby brother Dick, two months. December 26 was Grammy's favorite day of the year. I happen to love it too. I try to keep it quiet and peaceful, to savor the buziness  and celebrations of the preceding 25 days. Christmas 2007 was a very wonderful time; including moments of insanity and depression and worry that things wouldn't get done...and the usual feelings of being overwhelmed by gifting, partying and over-consumerism.  But today I'm appreciating how everything works out for the best...and there were some truly magical "Christmas moments", including (especially) visits with you, other Byrne family, and Dick. It was also a time to bring to a conclusion the closing of Grandfather and Grammy's home, precious possessions and memories.

I think it was my favorite Christmas ever.

Merry dim sum

For Christmas night dinner, we met with the Wieners for dim sum in Chinatown. It was wonderful to see them! So much food arrived, wave after wave; and there was the additional excitement of having a small fire break out in the restaurant. Most people just raised their eyebrows, craned their necks and then went back to eating. And afterwards, we went scoping for ice cream, because both Elizabeth and I had ridiculous cravings - we found a Haagen Dazs on the corner. Here are some pictures from the evening...

Yule-quiero taco

The first night we were all together (and rested) in New York, Clare hosted a big taco dinner at her apartment. All of us and our extended family (Stefan and Mark!) were there, plus Clare's friend Patrick and his mother, who are always delightful company. Here are some pictures I snapped throughout the evening, including some of ornaments I recognized from trees of yore at 515 East Main, like the one above :)

Feasting

Before I left for New York for Christmas, I was invited to the Rajendran-Greenslade household for a wonderful Christmas dinner. Isaac, the eldest son, was in town with his lovely wife Sarah; so everyone who was able spent the day in the kitchen preparing a feast. Here are some pictures from that night (and yes, suffer me the meat close-up...YUM).