Your families

[amber]

What is the make up of your family? What you consider your immediate family? What people constitute the family you spent the most time with? Feel free to post pics.

I was just tripping out again on someone's fam. Or everyone's. I'm always amazed at how big everyone's fam is. In my fam, for 15 years, it was just me as the kid, and then some adults (on my mom's side, which is the only one we ever visited on holidays). It was me, my nonna (grandma), her sister my great aunt, my uncle and possibly his girlfriend, my aunt, and that was basically it until I was 15 and my mom's 2 siblings finally had some kids. And, I won't even ever have nieces and nephews since I am an only child. Just cousins. Who are all 15 years younger than me.
Other people have these voluminous families that they can't even keep track of.
Cousins, nieces and nephews, brothers and sisters, blah blah forever. So many family members I can't even imagine. I've known people who have "discovered" they have family members they didn't know about before. Sure, that is Oakland, and lots of people are related, but it trips me out. I never had so many relatives!

I practically was my family for 15 years. At least I was the reason they gathered together. It was so small, and so lovely, all the holidays. Random adults, plus me, the focal point, the one that the family members actually liked (because everyone likes a kid). I've just come to learn that most families are bigger, expotentially. I wonder how that works.
My dad's fam was more expotential, but I didn't ever really get to know them.

It is hard for me to fathom families where you don't know some of them, and you only meet them once a year when you all get together for the reunion.

I always thought family was so insular and easy to comprehend, because mine was. It was me, and a handful of adults gathered to make holiday things special for me, while they visit with each other, even though lots of them didn't actually like each other. But they all thought food and holidays were important, and they still wanted to see the family members they had grudges against. Or, if they didn't, they would do it anyway, for me. And it would be fun and cool. Like, real holiday style. There would be a big production, with the meal and the visit. My grandma was serious about the meals for the holidays, like any good Italian grandma would be. It was all epic. Epic and delicious and ceremonial.
And why shouldn't it be, if only 8 or so people are in attendance.

Which is my point - tell me about your families, and their size, and their traditions, etc.
These are the favorite memories of my family, where we got together to eat for holidays. It was truly magical. We put out all the stops. Plus, we were all supposed to be Catholic, and we were all Italian, so any Jesus occasion was our forte. Food and God, I tells you what. lol.

But my truth isn't the truth of everyone. Everyone else has bigger families and different traditions.


But how is it for the bigger fams? When it isn't self contained? When there are cousins for miles?
It boggles my tiny mind.
In the way that I want everyone to share their stories and possibly post pics.

I'm just saying this all because I think that if I feel so strongly about my weird family holiday things, others will have just as great holiday traditions and possibly recipes to share.
Holiday traditions are the unsung gold of human experience. For reals.

Like, I can't fricking wait to hear the weird dishes my non Italian cousins from the south bring to light. (yeah, I'm talking about you, Jaz & Michelle).

And just in general what constitutes "family" to others.

Food and holidays and its rituals are important, don't make me come over there!!!
Peace and snacks out -
I could edit, but Night Moves just came on the radio. Can't miss that singing opp.