Bolts' Wright spends Christmas with his new family

As 19-year-old James Wright climbs out of bed inside the apartment he shares with Steve Downie this morning and opens the shades to start his Christmas Day, his family will be 3,000 miles away getting ready to open presents and carve into a turkey.

For the Lightning rookie enjoying his first ride through the NHL, the idea of being alone on a day so set in family gatherings was somewhat of an unpleasant thought. So as the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, native began running down his Christmas wish list to parents Lynne and Lorne, he had one idea right at the top - send his brother Garrett for a visit.

"We were talking about Christmas and the whole family is getting together, so he's going to stop in there, but I said if you can send Garrett out that would be nice," Wright said.

So before Wright's parents, older sister Lindsay, cousins, aunts and uncles - a total of 22 family members - assembled for their holiday gathering in La Quinta, Calif., Lynne Wright packed a suitcase full of care packages and all but put a red bow atop 18-year-old Garrett before sending the University of Alberta student on a plane Thursday to Tampa so he could spend Christmas Day with his brother.

"I think James will be fine with Garrett and the Christmas tree that I'm sending," Lynne Wright said. "I hope they find someplace nice to eat a nice dinner. I'm not sure if they'll go to IHOP or anything like that."

Had Lynne been able to jam a turkey in the luggage, she said she would have added that to the care package that included presents and stuffed stockings. The only problem would have been finding someone to cook the turkey for the brothers.

"Maybe I'll have to send some in a can. They can have canned turkey," Lynne joked.

After first contemplating a dinner at Fleming's or Bern's Steakhouse, Wright and his brother will join some of James' teammates - including Matt Walker, David Hale, Mike Smith and Ryan Malone - at a gathering this afternoon.

Wright won't be without the rest of his family for long, however. Early Saturday morning, Wright's parents, his sister and her fiance will board a plane bound for Tampa that will arrive in time for the family to watch James and the Lightning face off against Atlanta.

It's an arrangement set up so Lynne could fulfill her turn in hosting Christmas this year while still fitting in time to see her NHL-playing son for a week-long visit.

"It will be hard. This will be the first Christmas he's gone, but I know this is his choice, his path and his passion," Lynne said. "We'll miss him on Christmas Day, but we'll be in the day after, so we'll still have our own little celebration together."

And you won't hear any complaints from James, either.

"I think it just comes with the job, comes with the territory because you are not going to say I don't want to play in the NHL because I want to go home for Christmas. That's part of what I signed up for," he said.

"I'm not going to sit here and complain. I'm happy doing what I'm doing and I love this job."