Mrs Brown's Boys stars Brendan O'Carroll and Jennifer Gibney have opened up about their annual Christmas traditions that they celebrate with the Mrs Brown's Boys family.
Mrs Brown's Boys stars Brendan O'Carroll and Jennifer Gibney have opened up about their annual Christmas traditions that they celebrate with the Mrs Brown's Boys family.
The popular comedy returns to our screens for its Christmas special next week, but despite the show being filmed in Glasgow and living in Orlando, Florida, Brendan and Jennifer usually spend the festive season in Dublin with their family.
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This year will be no exception, with the pair also revealing that the first time they see the show's Christmas special is on the day itself surrounded by family.
Brendan O'Carroll Jennifer Gibney
Brendan O'Carroll and Jennifer Gibney have opened up about their annual Christmas traditions that they celebrate with the Mrs Brown's Boys family. Pic: RTÉ
'Christmas has always been magical for both of us,' Jenny told the RTÉ Christmas Guide, with Brendan agreeing, adding: 'We both love Christmas and we are always in Dublin. No matter what happens for me, any year, Christmas just seems to be magic.'
Speaking on their tradition, Brendan and Jenny revealed that the festive season heavily involves the family and cast, saying '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.'
Brendan O'Carroll Jennifer Gibney
Brendan and Jennifer said that the entire family will arrive at their house in matching pyjamas for Christmas breakfast, before they return in the evening for Christmas dinner and watch the Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas special for the first time.Pic: VIPIRELAND
While the couple are looking forward to spending the holiday with their family, they're also aware that Christmas can be a tough time for those who may be spending it alone, and/or those who are grieving the loss of a loved one -- a pain Brendan knows too well, having lost his two sisters and sister in law between March 2020 and 2021.
Brendan is aware that it's a lonely time for some too, telling the guide 'I always try to reflect that in the message at the end of the show.
'This year, [Agnes Brown's] 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."
Mrs Brown's Boys
The comedy returns for its Christmas special this year -- with Brendan saying that Mrs Brown will deliver a special message for those who have lost loved ones over the holiday. Pic: BBC Studios/Alan Peebles
'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,' Brendan added. '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.'
Jenny agreed, saying '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.
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'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,' she added. 'It is very hard. 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.'
The Christmas special comes as Fiona O'Carroll -- Brendan's daughter, who plays Mrs Brown's daughter Maria in the show -- announced earlier this year that the show will be returning to our screens for the first time in a decade next year.