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Post by compeateropeator on Jul 31, 2017 15:03:08 GMT
We just had a family reunion this weekend. It was a great time and great party. Lots of laughs and love.
My grandmother is the last of the 6 siblings alive. So I am sure that it was bitter sweet for her. We have a reunion every two years and it is spearheaded by my mother's generation. The fear is that it will not continue when it becomes the responsibility of the younger generations. There is a lot of emphasis on getting the younger generations involved so that they will want to continue it.
Does your family have reunions and do you like attending them?
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Post by mikklynn on Jul 31, 2017 15:04:49 GMT
I am glad your family has great reunions.
It would be the 7th circle of hell to have a reunion in my family. The aunts and uncles are gone. The cousins would ask for money.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 31, 2017 15:16:02 GMT
Not unless you count weddings and funerals, and sadly there have been more of the latter than the former in recent years. Neither side of my family has ever really held them, but both of my parents came from big families and many of their siblings went on to have big families of their own so it would get out of hand numbers wise pretty quickly. I don't even know half of my first cousins.
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Post by compeateropeator on Jul 31, 2017 15:18:47 GMT
I am glad your family has great reunions. It would be the 7th circle of hell to have a reunion in my family. The aunts and uncles are gone. The cousins would ask for money. I agree that would be a reunion I would not be attending. I think I may be looking at hell in the afterlife, no need to live it now. Free time is limited and made for enjoyment when ever possible.
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Post by gar on Jul 31, 2017 15:20:53 GMT
Not just for reunions sake, no. I have 13 cousins but wouldn't recognise some of them if we passed in the street I don't think. I can't imagine a get together with my Mum's side of the family - too weird now but my Dad's, yes, I would enjoy that 🙂
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Mystie
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Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Jul 31, 2017 15:22:33 GMT
My mother's family has a reunion in Ohio every August. We all usually got together in the summer and at Christmas, but after my grandparents died, it officially went on the calendar because my aunts in particular feared that our large and far-flung family would drift apart when Grandpa and Grandma were gone. I try to get to it every other year or every two years. I'll be missing it this year...I was just up in Ohio a month ago and am not eager to make the trip again. But I'm sad to miss out on seeing several new babies!
My great-grandmother's siblings and their families have held a reunion every other year for decades. Half the siblings lived in PA and half in OH, so they would switch the location back and forth each time. I went as a child and have gone to the last couple, but I think this is one that will die out as my mother's generation dies out. The connections are just too tenuous now in my generation and beyond.
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Deleted
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May 16, 2024 4:19:35 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2017 15:23:25 GMT
My mother's father's people would have one. I am not sure there are very any left to get together. My mother didn't quite get along with her cousins.
My father had a reunion with his cousins. It was fun it but again there aren't very many. A lot of his family didn't marry or didn't have children. L""7. A.
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Post by compeateropeator on Jul 31, 2017 15:28:19 GMT
Not unless you count weddings and funerals, and sadly there have been more of the latter than the former in recent years. Neither side of my family has ever really held them, but both of my parents came from big families and many of their siblings went on to have big families of their own so it would get out of hand numbers wise pretty quickly. I don't even know half of my first cousins. Truthfully I didn't know a lot of my 2nd cousins and down before we began having reunions. There was about 65 this year which is probably average but we have had more. There were 13 kids under 10, which is a lot. 10 years ago we were at a time when there were no small kids. Sadly we have had more funerals lately also. My grandmother was one of six. My grandfather was one of 12. My grandmother and her two bothers married my grandfather and his two sisters. So there are double double cousins in there.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Jul 31, 2017 15:38:02 GMT
My grandmother was the oldest of 11 children, and the annual reunion has been going on since I was a small child. There are 4 originals left, if my memory is correct, and hosting duties passed to my mother's generation last year. It is a little bitter sweet.
I doubt my generation will continue...my first cousins and the other cousins around my age haven't been in years. I guess it is generational thing where we just scattered. Those of my generation who are 10-15 years younger are closer than we are, so maybe one of them will continue it, but I doubt it.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 31, 2017 15:40:52 GMT
Not unless you count weddings and funerals, and sadly there have been more of the latter than the former in recent years. Neither side of my family has ever really held them, but both of my parents came from big families and many of their siblings went on to have big families of their own so it would get out of hand numbers wise pretty quickly. I don't even know half of my first cousins. Truthfully I didn't know a lot of my 2nd cousins and down before we began having reunions. There was about 65 this year which is probably average but we have had more. There were 13 kids under 10, which is a lot. 10 years ago we were at a time when there were no small kids. Sadly we have had more funerals lately also. My grandmother was one of six. My grandfather was one of 12. My grandmother and her two bothers married my grandfather and his two sisters. So there are double double cousins in there. My mom was one of 12, dad was one of nine. Most of them had 4-8 kids each. Even the funerals got crazy. I was one of the youngest of the cousins with many of them 10-20 years older than I am so I couldn't pick most of them out of a crowd of two. I doubt very much if any of my first cousins held a reunion they would even know how to find me.
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Post by iteach3rdgrade on Jul 31, 2017 16:00:25 GMT
My dad's side had them every two years since the early 90s. There are only 2 of the 6 siblings left now. My aunt had a lot of children and they take on a lot of the planning most of the time and I think we'll always have the reunions. I'll make sure my son attends them because I want him to know my dad's family (he never met my dad). I only have one cousin close to my age so I'm glad he has several kids near my son's age. The reunions can be bittersweet because of the aunts and uncles getting older. Every reunion seems to have a few less. Different locations are picked each year. We have about 35-45 depending on the location.
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Post by nnnsmom on Jul 31, 2017 16:01:34 GMT
We went to our first family reunion in over 10 years last month. It was for my mom's side of the family and they have one every other year or so. We live a few states away from most of the family so it's been a while. It was the first family reunion my boys remember. They were all toddlers at the last one.
My grandparents passed away over 10 years ago. My mom has 6 siblings ages 68-80. All but one made the reunion. We have 21 first cousins and I think 11 of us were there. 50-something people in total made it. It was really fun to see all the family I haven't seen in so long and to meet all the new little ones! One of my cousins made a family tree that was really neat to see on paper! (Lots of limbs and leaves on that tree!!)
I think ours will continue on for a while. It was hosted this time by one of my older cousins.
I was really shocked at how young my mom's siblings and spouses seem for their ages. All but one are in good health and very active. Most still looked exactly like I remember them from childhood! Also, out of seven couples, all but one of them have been married for 47+ years! Isn't that amazing?
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Post by jemali on Jul 31, 2017 16:37:43 GMT
My mother in law has a reunion every year with her siblings and children and grandchildren. Attendance is going down every year. I am pretty sure it will stop when she passes away.
There is another reunion in her family that has been occurring since the 1950's. Attendance in that one is going down too. We have gone with her a few times. My dd says they are boring, who cares that they are family? They are just people she eats lunch with once a year.
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Post by Fidget on Jul 31, 2017 16:39:21 GMT
My DH's family used to - his Mom's side. It just got to be too big, no-one was willing to take it on anymore. My MIL is the 13th of 16 children, she is now in her late 80's and there are only her and 2 other siblings still alive. My DH has over 100 first cousins, some of them are 25 years older than him. No idea how many 2nd cousins he has.
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Post by busy on Jul 31, 2017 16:46:53 GMT
We do a long weekend family reunion with my FIL’s family every summer. We all rent places at the same place they went when FIL and his cousins were kids and it’s super fun. There are usually about 40 people and we look forward to it every year. Tons of fun and great memories. We’ve been doing it for about 10 years now. I really only knew FIL’s sisters before we started the reunions and now I know and love all of the extended family. It’s great.
My stepfather’s family also does a family reunion every summer but ti’s just a one day picnic. It’s fun too. These have been going on forever - probably at least 50 years.
There’s no extended family to speak of for my mom, dad or MIL so no reunions there.
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lindas
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Jun 26, 2014 5:46:37 GMT
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Post by lindas on Jul 31, 2017 16:55:07 GMT
I started our annual family reunion back in 1988. With 23 cousins it's been fairly easy to keep it going since everyone had to take a turn organizing each year. After the one in 2015 we decided to go every other year so we will be having one this September with 4 generations present.
One aunt, one uncle and my dad are the only ones remaining since we started. I know that we will continue even after they are gone and I hope the next generation will step up to continue the tradition.
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Post by deekaye on Jul 31, 2017 17:04:27 GMT
My mom's family hadn't had an official family reunion in several years so this year an aunt sent out a Facebook invite for a last-minute reunion (about two weeks notice). There were only about 20 family members in attendance because of the last-minute thing but we had a great time, lots of food and BBQ and even put together a private "deekaye family reunion" Facebook page and set a date for next year's reunion.
We are always invited to a family reunion on my dad's side of the family and we try to go if we can but it is always an odd affair, very stiff and formal (ie., a sit down dinner with linens and china in a swanky clubhouse at a golf course). My paternal grandma was the black sheep of the family and even though she died several years ago, we still can feel that "black sheep" title. Ha! My Dad is gone now too so I think we will slowly back away from this reunion...
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Post by librarylady on Jul 31, 2017 18:20:12 GMT
My father's side of the family has tried to have them every 2 years. We are out of sync because my sister who hosted had a fire in her home. At one time we tried to rent a space and every location wanted to only rent for 2 hours. That sister has a swimming pool, so it was a drawing card for younger ones. Our last big gathering was in 2009 when we celebrated the family being in the USA for 100 years.
My mother's side of the family is HUGE, HUGE. I think there are over 50 first cousins in that tribe. I have some first cousins who were my parent's age. Anyway, one branch gets together every year around July 4th. I went this year for the first time in many years. I had fun and actually recognized some of the participants.
My BILs family calls it "cousins party" and the first cousins get together. That works as no one is disappointed that a younger generation is not attending. My husband's cousins have tried that a time or two.
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Post by anniefb on Jul 31, 2017 18:23:36 GMT
Ours is a small family and it's dwindling fast. No reunions for us.
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Peal
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Jun 25, 2014 22:45:40 GMT
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Post by Peal on Jul 31, 2017 18:36:47 GMT
I don't enjoy family reunions. There is too much obligation guilt built into attending them in my experience. My dad's family has a reunion every year. It is for his father's siblings and families. None of the original generation is still alive and only a handful of the second is left and it's getting harder for them to all make it. So it falls to my generation to do it, and frankly, I don't see the point of hosting a big weekend long party to spend with people that I have absolutely no other contact with than a spottily attended reunion.
I admit to being particularly cranky re this subject for a variety of reasons and that not everyone feels this way.
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Post by ntsf on Jul 31, 2017 19:21:46 GMT
we have so little family we don't have reunions. my dh has cousins that have reunions. but we are not invited.. do they know we exist? i don't know. I have no aunts and uncles, and so no first cousins. I know a few of the second cousins. even if you go back a generation.. my grandfather had 4 siblings.. there is one child amongst them all.. my mom's first cousin. my grandmother had 3 siblings.. of the 4 girls, there are 2 kids.. my dad and his 1st cousin. small families.. few kids my dad doesn't even know the names of his dad's siblings.. and only met one once in the 1930's.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2017 19:33:48 GMT
My grandpa the second oldest of 7 brothers. They held a family reunion starting before I was born and it went until I had my own kids but by that time the brothers had started passing and the family had gotten so very big (many had large families themselves) It came to an end.
There are cousins I still keep in contact with, but there has been a shift from the family reunion of that generation to family reunions headed by newer generations. I don't feel bad about the passing of an era.... honestly, I dislike the thought of having to go to a family reunion of people who were siblings 5 generations back just because brothers in the 1800s decided to get together every summer. I mean really! Why? Why isn't it ok to let an older generation pass, and those off shoot families break away to hold a reunion of people they know. kwim?
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Post by papersilly on Jul 31, 2017 19:38:17 GMT
we don't have family reunions but one of sorts occurred this past weekend for a funeral. family from near and far came and it was good to reconnect with people again. aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. sad that the larger, extended family only sees each other under these circumstances but it's always nice when we do.
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 31, 2017 19:49:36 GMT
My mom has 3 sisters. There are 8 in my generation. Of that group, all but 2 live in northern colorado (one in Denver, one in japan) and an aunt that lives in Arizona. We don't really need reunions.
My dad's side also lives in the area, but we rarely see them. My dad was the black sheep of the family.
Anything further than aunta/uncles and cousins I don't really care about.
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Post by freecharlie on Jul 31, 2017 19:51:10 GMT
I Lso think facebook has made reunions less of a thing because you can keep in touch so easy.
I don't see my Japan cousin very much, but we interact a lot (he should be somewhere in the air right now heading here to visit).
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scrappert
Prolific Pea
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Jul 11, 2014 21:20:09 GMT
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Post by scrappert on Jul 31, 2017 19:51:29 GMT
I am happy you had a great time. I agree that it is harder to get the younger generations more involved. I know for me, I don't have a lot of extra time. Busy, busy, busy. I wonder if that is what is common?
My mom was the party planner. Our families never had reunions until she decided to start doing it. She did one for her side and the next year for my dad's side. Sadly, she died after that. It has been 8 years and her cousins decided to do a reunion this year. We really have a small family, a lot of members have passed away. We had about 30 people. It was a very hot humid day, but we did have a good time. It was nice to see the relatives I haven't seen since my mom's funeral. Everyone contributed to the food and gave donations for the shelter at the park.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2017 20:10:48 GMT
Pretty much everyone in my family is a stranger to me, that's more than ok with me. I don't want to force relationships with people just because we're 'related'.
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Post by Delta Dawn on Jul 31, 2017 20:15:31 GMT
About 4 years ago my cousin got married and invited everyone from his dad's side of the family who was still alive. They (our relatives) didn't have many children if any so there were only about 20 of us together. This is the first time I have met several of them. It was really nice to see them all. I come from a very, very small family and I swear no one had kids. Our last name ends with DS as he has a hyphenated name.
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Post by piebaker on Jul 31, 2017 20:44:02 GMT
I am glad you had fun at your reunion. I've been to one on my mom's side and two on my dad's that were held after he died. They were enjoyable. This year we have had a christening, a graduation party and a wedding So far. It is the most time we've been together in the past five years. I am glad it was for a good reason. mikklynn - your post made me smile.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 31, 2017 22:47:08 GMT
Ours is a small family and it's dwindling fast. No reunions for us. This is DH too.
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