On September 13, 2013, the world lost two bright and beautiful people of Holyoke in a terrible accident. Brian Callahan and Moira Murphy have been gone for 3 years now, but their lively legacies live on.

Brian is etched forever in our minds as a kind gentlemen, always there to lend a hand and stick up for anyone who needs help. No family event will be the same without Moira’s tasty treats filling us up before we could even eat dinner. The Annual Ugly Christmas Sweater Party each year allows us to celebrate their lives with everyone who loved them.

This year was the third year the Ugly Christmas Party has taken place. The benefit’s profits go toward the Moira Murphy and Brian Callahan Scholarship Fund. Tickets for the event at the Holyoke Elks are $25 a piece and are sold beforehand and also at the door. Once inside, there is an insane amount of raffle prizes, some extremely large, to be won. This Saturday had a good turn out and raised a ton of money for the fund. Each year Holyoke High students are awarded the scholarship named after Moira and Brian.

Brian Callahan was my cousin and I think the benefit is an amazing way to keep his memory alive. Sunday Suppers will never be the same without him, but at least once a year we get to celebrate his life, our whole crazy huge extended family together, in our ugliest Christmas sweaters. The profit also goes to a good cause so you can enjoy yourself knowing you’re doing a kind thing.

Next year make sure you don your ugliest, most hideous Christmas sweater that your mom bought you and you’ve been hiding in the back of the closet, and head down to the Holyoke Elks to party it up in honor of two wonderful people who will forever have a place in our hearts.