Christmas and the Comeau's

Thank you all for all the positive feedback regarding Mom's blog post on Aunt Rose from the Audet/Violette side of the family.  In the spirit of fairness and equal billing, I want to write about the Comeau's in general, and my Uncle Michael in particular, who was my father's younger brother.

There is so much that could be said about my Uncle Michael.  There were good times and good years and there were times that were not good.  He loved us, his nieces and nephew and he loved to be generous with us, especially at Christmas time.  When things were not good and money was tight, he was sad, though we were too young to be aware of it.  When things were good you could count on him to be over the top.  I think that the most important thing that I could say about him is that he was fun.  He made celebrations, holidays and ordinary days fun.  We lost him to leukemia in 1996 and he is sorely missed.



My Grandmother Elaine Comeau
forced to pose in her toilet seat
cover and bath rug set,
typical of Uncle Michael's humor

One of the things that I remember about Christmas with him was how he had uplifted every aspect of the event into an art form.  Even gift wrapping was done with precision and care.  He would purchase the gifts, select a box if it didn't already come easily wrap able, and then perfectly center the paper over the gift so as to highlight and cast the most perfect Christmas glow.  He would then adorn the gift with accessories of ribbons and bows to complete the look.  He made each wrapped gift a masterpiece and work of art.  The Santa Claus in the wrapping paper would be perfectly centered and unobstructed by a haphazard and unconscious bow placement.



Michael and Paul Comeau

In his quest to create his wrapped art occasionally he would need to use a box borrowed from the pantry or left over from a past household purchase.  It would often be heard on Christmas morning..." don't trust the box" because when you unwrapped your gift and found an All Bran cereal box, for example, you might be led to believe it was a gag gift.  Not so, it was simply a way to turn the cashmere gloves into a nicer finished product to display under the tree while awaiting your moment of admiring the beauty of it before unwrapping it.

One year he gave my mother a purse stuffed with money.  He fanned out bills in the front pockets, he crumpled bills to serve as the stuffing inside and gave the appearance of it being loaded with money.  It was a scream.  We all went nuts over the gift and I think we all remember that moment.  A few years later, he gave each of us kids a piggy bank loaded with quarters.  I think it might have been $20 in quarters which to a kid was a lot of money.

My father and Uncle Michael grew up in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts.  My mother remembers how much he and my Dad would laugh and tease and joke.  In comparing and contrasting their upbringing, Mom says that while her family went skating or did activities outside together as a family, they having grown up in the city, learned to do fun things at home.  I consider myself blessed indeed to have been raised with the best of both worlds.  Comeau silliness inside the home along with parents and extended family who valued children and spent time with us doing a wide variety of activities outside the home.

Uncle Michael and my father had a special relationship.  They are fine examples of two people who were complete polar opposites yet loved each other unquestionably.  If one were to call the other and say, "I need help" the immediate response given would be "I am in my car."  I think that this is the first and most valuable lesson as family I learned growing up.  It had a big impact on me and my siblings.  We are also very different in nature from each other but we are close, we love each other and are able to express that to each other and we enjoy spending time together.

This year we will be celebrating a Comeau Christmas in Colorado.  Scott and Tracey along with her fiancee Joe are coming to celebrate with us.  We will be laughing and joking and teasing each other but it will all be in good fun.  We have a new Comeau and that makes it all the more important to remember and participate in family tradition.  Tan Michael Paul Nguyen, who is very much a Comeau and who very much inherited the Comeau humor and sense of fun, will celebrate his second Christmas. This year he is 19 months and much more aware of what is happening around him unlike last year.  He has discovered the lights and decorations of Christmas and he is inspired.  We are preparing ourselves for a rip roaring good time.

This year as you are putting the final touches on your holiday preparation I hope that you think of Christmas' past and your own family traditions.  Take a little extra care while wrapping your gifts to ensure that they are little works of art.  My Uncle Michael believed that gift wrapping was not a chore but a labor of love.  I hope that there is a lot of love for you and yours this holiday season.  If not, stop in and see us we have enough to go around.



Uncle Michael and my brother Scott Michael Comeau
Michael is sporting a trash can on his head