From: jay duplass
To: mark duplass
Subject: xmas eve
dupes. that was an awesome night. I feel like everyone was at their best. mom and dad. the kids were just jamming together and loving it all. it just worked. thx for hosting that and ushering it into being.
From: mark duplass
To: jay duplass
Subject: RE: xmas eve
I felt it too. I thought about it a lot after u guys left and was trying to crack the code to why it worked so well. I guess sometimes things just have an energy and u get lucky or whatever. but I wish we could bottle it or map it out in some way to help re-create it cuz it was so rad and beautiful. particularly with me and u and jen and katie. did u notice that?
From: jay duplass
To: mark duplass
Subject: RE: xmas eve
yeah. that was the biggest part for me. i’ve always convinced myself that i had unrealistic expectations of how close u and me and our wives would all be. like we would all live in a commune and share all the same ideals and raise our kids together kinda thing. obviously it’s more complex than that and my brain can totally accept it, but in my heart I still feel badly that it doesn’t just click in perfectly like I hoped it would.
From: mark duplass
To: jay duplass
Subject: RE: xmas eve
dude. dupiss face johnson. thank u for having the heart and balls to say that. I have been wanting to broach this subject for a long time and have been kinda scared to say it. and u just kinda blew it open for me and I’m really glad u did. can I just say…
I wish u and katie were closer and I wish me and jen were closer.
I know we love each other and it works but…I wish what u wished too. I wish we were all soul mates.
From: jay duplass
To: mark duplass
Subject: RE: xmas eve
ha! me too. I totally feel you on this. it sucks. and I don’t know how to fix it.
From: mark duplass
To: jay duplass
Subject: RE: xmas eve
me neither. but I’m glad we’re talking about it. and I’m glad we had a rad xmas eve together where it all came straight out of the oven like we imagined it would when we wrote the cookbook, sleeping in our twin bed together 35 years ago.
From: jay duplass
To: mark duplass
Subject: RE: xmas eve
maybe we can talk a little before we do these bigger family get-togethers and try to plant some seeds of fun. ie, I think the little singalong thing u did at the piano helped to set the mood.
some ideas:
—as the kids get older, sharing seminal movies together that we all loved as a family. raising arizona, rocky, hoosiers.
—big charade game with interfamily teams
(I’m already hating these ideas and they feel forced. probably can’t control this and just have to get lucky.)
last idea: get mom really stoned and just sit in the corner and watch her.
