Your families

[danax6]

Let's see. I've stopped talking to my mother -and her family- a long time ago. In fact, I don't even consider her, or them, my family. I hardly even know them. She had two kids after us, so I do have two little brothers, who I adore immensely. They're the only reason I ever drive up there.

Then there's my non-biological mom, who I've always considered my real mom. She passed away two years ago. She had a daughter, we all grew up together, I consider her my little sister.

I am very close to my real sister. She and I even share an apartment. Very close to my dad also.

My dad comes from a big family. I only see my grandmother now and then, for bingo nights. I'd have to say that 80% of his family I've never even met. I have 9 aunts and uncles from his side, and at least 50 cousins, if not more, but I know maybe 2 or 3. I used to be very close to one of my aunts, she lived down the street, but she moved to Belgium a few years ago, and since then we've barely had contact.

I recently joined a Dutch website, equivalent to MySpace, and I keep getting all these messages from people over the country saying 'hey, we're family! how are you?' I never respond.

In short: I only really consider my two sisters, my two brothers and my dad family. My dad's best friend, who he's known for 45 years, and two of his other friends are all people that stepped in when my mother left and helped my dad out when we were little. I consider them family also.

Family isn't just people that are related to you by blood. No way.

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by danax6

Family isn't just people that are related to you by blood. No way.

I agree with this. All of my "aunts" and "uncles" were close friends of my parent's.

[sara1998]

Originally Posted by danax6

Family isn't just people that are related to you by blood. No way.

My oldest daughter isn't my daughter, but my biological daughters half sister. I consider my oldest my own.

[suzyvermoesen]

My family is really small. I'm an only child and have 1 cousin who is 9 years older than me and who i never ever see.
Both my parents are still alive and i see them every couple of weeks. They were never particularly close to the rest of the (small) family, except my mom who adored her father (he passed away in 1984). All my grandparents have died and apart from my mother and father, and my cousin, i have one aunt left who is my fathers' sister , but whom i also never see.
My husband comes from a large family of 5 kids, but some of them are not on speaking terms. I had always wanted an older brother or sister to hang out with, but when i see how my in-laws get along sometimes i guess i'm better off with a few really good friends
some pics:
my dad


my mom


my best friend and me before going to a costume party:


with my lifelong friends whom i've known for 40 years (omg!)

[sara1998]

Just an excuse to show off my girls... I love them so!

[sasja]

Sara your girls are wonderful

For me:
Huge fam that I rarely see anymore since moving to US, maybe once a year or so my aunts and uncles, rarely cousins anymore. Here a pic from when we were in Holland this August/sept, my parents had a big 50th wedding anniversary bash, this is all my fam.:



Avi's fam is tiny since not much survived the Holocaust (Russian and German jews)
He has 2 cousins maybe, and one aunt and uncle.
a sister he is close to and a brother, not so much.

[jannieC]

Originally Posted by sasja

Sara your girls are wonderful

For me:
Huge fam that I rarely see anymore since moving to US, maybe once a year or so my aunts and uncles, rarely cousins anymore. Here a pic from when we were in Holland this August/sept, my parents had a big 50th wedding anniversary bash, this is all my fam.:



Avi's fam is tiny since not much survived the Holocaust (Russian and German jews)
He has 2 cousins maybe, and one aunt and uncle.
a sister he is close to and a brother, not so much.

Holee Sh*t- I need a nap after just looking at that! Wow, what it is like to have that much family? Are the periodic gatherings fun?

[sara1998]

Originally Posted by sasja

Sara your girls are wonderful

For me:
Huge fam that I rarely see anymore since moving to US, maybe once a year or so my aunts and uncles, rarely cousins anymore. Here a pic from when we were in Holland this August/sept, my parents had a big 50th wedding anniversary bash, this is all my fam.:



Avi's fam is tiny since not much survived the Holocaust (Russian and German jews)
He has 2 cousins maybe, and one aunt and uncle.
a sister he is close to and a brother, not so much.

Thank you!

You are blessed. My family is so small; if I had a family that size, everyone would need to wear a name tag.... hello, my name is ______.

[suzyvermoesen]

Originally Posted by sasja

Sara your girls are wonderful

For me:
Huge fam that I rarely see anymore since moving to US, maybe once a year or so my aunts and uncles, rarely cousins anymore. Here a pic from when we were in Holland this August/sept, my parents had a big 50th wedding anniversary bash, this is all my fam.:



Avi's fam is tiny since not much survived the Holocaust (Russian and German jews)
He has 2 cousins maybe, and one aunt and uncle.
a sister he is close to and a brother, not so much.

Nou moe ! I started counting them but lost count twice

[estranged4life]

My family, On both of my parents sides, is quite large. My Dad's family consisted of 6 boys and 4 girls (All of my aunts are living and excluding my Dad and an Uncle all the males are living - I wished I had a working scanner to add their family for y'all to see - Typical Irish/Cherokee family) whereas Mom's family was small 2 girls and 1 boy. I have so many frikkin' cousins I have lost count (About 40-45) some even whom I do not know...

I have 2 older brothers (One full blood and one half-brother) and 4 older half-sisters (Two by Dad, Of one who had passed away back in 1989 and 2 by Mom) so I am the youngest. I have 2 nieces and 5 nephews and coming someday soon I will have a daughter (Via my lady Christy) who is a very intelligent 10 year old.

Lost both my Grand-fathers in 1977 (Along with my Dad), My Grandmothers in 1994 & 1998 and my Mom in March 2005 (As most of y'all know from the thread I started)

[amber]

Originally Posted by estranged4life

My family, On both of my parents sides, is quite large. My Dad's family consisted of 6 boys and 4 girls (All of my aunts are living and excluding my Dad and an Uncle all the males are living - I wished I had a working scanner to add their family for y'all to see - Typical Irish/Cherokee family) whereas Mom's family was small 2 girls and 1 boy. I have so many frikkin' cousins I have lost count (About 40-45) some even whom I do not know...

I have 2 older brothers (One full blood and one half-brother) and 4 older half-sisters (Two by Dad, Of one who had passed away back in 1989 and 2 by Mom) so I am the youngest. I have 2 nieces and 5 nephews and coming someday soon I will have a daughter (Via my lady Christy) who is a very intelligent 10 year old.

Lost both my Grand-fathers in 1977 (Along with my Dad), My Grandmothers in 1994 & 1998 and my Mom in March 2005 (As most of y'all know from the thread I started)

Yeah, you know, that "typical" Irish Cherokee family... hehehe.
Although, really, you are right. Everyone in America is Irish and Native. I'm a quarter of each! lol.
So, then, what do you guys do for holidays? Who do you hang with, what do you eat, how do you celebrate? Do you cull your dumbest cats and serve them for Thanksgiving? (Tooootally a joke everyone. Just a reference to his cats. Neither of us would ever cull or serve them. But he has had some funny ones....)
I never heard about an Oklahoma Irish/Cherokee Thanksgiving. Heard about the Italian/Irish/Native one. Which was just Italian, really.

I was surprised to find out that your mom's family was so small. Sounds like they made up for lost time by spitting out chillen's, though? Had to have, for you to have so many cousins. My mom's fam is two girls and one boy, too, but there are only four kids between them all. 2 only children.

So, what is up with the snacks/grub? Spill.

[hs421139]

My brother passed away in 1970, I no longer speak with my
father, his sister passed away in 1987, her son, my first cousin, I have not seen or spoken to in years, I am not even sure if my fathers mother is alive.
His father passed away in 1972.
My mother has one brother, and he has two children, I am not "close" to my cousins. I have only one cousin (2nd) whom I am close too. Both of my grandparents passed away (mother's mom/dad) My grandfather to me was my father. I miss them both so much, especially during the holidays.
I have two friends, whom are more like "sisters" to me. One I have known for
over 35 years, and the other I have known for more than 25 years.
When my father was in my life, I felt as though I was a "token", he would come to visit, unannounced, and bring me to his aunt's house, just to make himself look good in his family's eyes. It has taking me a very long time to realize what was in front of me for sooooo very long. One day about 10 years
ago, I reached my breaking point, and decided for many reasons to cease any kind of relationship I had with my father. Quite honestly after all the bs that he put my mother through, and all of the hateful things he did to her and me, as well as countless others, it was a huge relief not to have him in my life. To show you what kind of a human being he is, he was married for 10 years, and when I graduated college, he once again showed up in my life.
To make a long story short, he was married at the time, and I had no idea, and it turns out that his wife did not even know that I existed, for over 10 years, until my fathers cousin mentioned it. They are no longer married.
(no big surprise) Me and her became friends. To say that he treated her badly is an understatement. I know that she remarried, and is happy, I am happy for her, and am glad that he is out of her life as well.
So for me the only family I have is my mother, and my 2 best friends, and thier familes.

[sara1998]

Originally Posted by suzyvermoesen

Your daughters are gorgeous !

Thank you so much!

Originally Posted by suzyvermoesen

Nou moe ! I started counting them but lost count twice

I counted 70...

[rbs3676]

My Mom and Dad celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past summer and we had a huge family celebration at my parents summer home in Colorado.
I am extremely close to my parents -- they are such wonderful, sweet people and I adore them to no end. I live about 10 minutes away from them.
I am the oldest of three children. Both of my siblings are married. My brother lives about 7 minutes away from me and has has two daughters who I am very close to. My sister has two daughters and a son. They live about 4 hours away so we don't see them as often as we'd like.
My Mom was an only child so there are nothing but cousins are her side. My Dad is from Boston and had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. I'm pretty tight with one of my aunts and her daughter (my favorite cousin). I try to see them every summer in Cape Cod and we talk on the phone all of the time.
Family is very important to me.

The picture attached was taken last fall at my family's ranch.

rbs

[Sarah]

meh.

I would consider my "immediate" family to be my mom, dad, and older sister. Well, now I guess I count my brother-in-law as well.

I have one aunt on my mom's side... they are super close, so as a rule, we're close as well I suppose. My aunt has 2 daughters and my mom has 2 daughters, and growing up it was kind of like 4 sisters, because we'd always be at my grandmother's house. My aunt's oldest daughter is the oldest of all of us, and I am the youngest... the total distance of age is 10 years. My sister is next (she's 8 years older), then my other cousin (6 years older), then me. They always picked on me like ****ing hell... it's probably the primary reason I am so feisty. It only took me a few years to learn how to fight back. Other than my step-uncle's family members, this is it for this side of the family pretty much. Since my grandparents passed away, we never see their siblings and families anymore.. and truth be told, I don't like going to family gatherings and talking to everyone anyway. It's embarassing when they start talking about me when I was little. And when all the memories start coming back up, I start getting picked on again. I can't tell you how many holidays have been ruined for me because they think it's just so goddamn funny to pester me to death. I love my family because they're my family, but I honestly don't feel close to anyone.

My dad's side of the family is ridiculously dysfunctional. My abusive, alcoholic grandfather died before I was born. My grandmother remarried when I was quite small, but apparently that guy was an asshole, too. He got alzheimers, was in the nursing home for a long while, and died when I was probably like.. 8 or so. When he went in the nursing home, my great aunt moved in to live with my grandmother there... so to me, I've always had a granny and a Frances on that side. As far as aunts and uncles go... my dad's oldest brother died in a bridge collapse back in the early 70s. His middle brother is married and has 2 children, a boy and a girl. His son and my sister are the same age and were close growing up.. his daughter is, i really don't know how old she is to be honest. 3 years or 4 years older maybe. Again, I'm the youngest. When one of my great aunts passed away, my dad totally just sat back and let my uncle **** us out of a boatload of inheritance money.. for the sake of not disrupting the family. It didn't really work. We don't see or talk to each other anymore. It's all just too weird. And to be really honest, despite the fact that they live literally 5 minutes away, I probably see my granny and Frances like, 4 times a year. Maybe. I've flaked out of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter for the last 4 years now. It just makes me feel like a wanker and a liar to go over there for holiday stuff.. especially if my aunt and uncle are there. Every year, we always said, let's not exchange gifts, and then did anyway. No, it shouldn't be about the gifts... but my aunt shouldn't really give my sister and I the ****ing Elizabeth Arden or Estee Lauder holiday gift set that you get when you buy someone else's present like.. 6, 7 years in a row. Gee, thanks.. this is great. I can't even ****ing take it back. Eyeroll.

It's nice to see that people enjoy their families. My parents are great. My sister and brother-in-law are great (when my sister and I aren't at each other's throats because we have clashing personalities), but they don't live close at all. My aunt is great, but she's in a different town and always busy. I hardly ever see my "sister cousins" anymore. And the oldest one is a total wingnut loon anyway now... you can't really have a conversation with her at all, she's just totally off her rocker. So yeah. I can't wait to eat turkey and stuffing, but I ****ing dread the holidays like crazy burning hell every year. I always volunteer to work so that I have an excuse to drive separately.. so I can leave early.

Being around everyone is just sensory overload, and it kicks my anxiety problems into double high gear. And with the whole family being southern Baptist... yeah. I kind of just sit there, act like I'm listening, and try to cover up the fact that I am trembling and shuddering with nervousness and anxiety. Blah. But I will say it again that my parents are really great. We've had our clashes and aren't very, very close.. but I'm not a warm person anyway. I always wish that I was.. but I just can't bring myself to hug or say I love you. I don't really know why.