“You have how many siblings?” I’m sure we can all think of at least a few times we’ve heard this question when we say just how large our big families are. Even still, nothing beats the look on their faces when I explain to them my six siblings, thirty five cousins, twenty aunts and uncles, and grandparents get together as often as possible. It’s so rare you have a family party below at least 10 people. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without the jam-packed kitchen. Even with all the chaos, and extra time and full-to-the-brim rooms, we wouldn’t change our big families for anything in the world. The bigger, the better amiright? Here are 15 ways people with small families sometimes just don’t understand why we’d say this:

1. Your reaction when someone says, “isn’t it crazy?? We have 5 people coming over for dinner tonight!

Having 5 people at the dinner table isn’t even a normal night of dinner in our houses -- unless you’re assuming three of us are at sports practice and another is at a friend’s house, then sure, let’s call it 5 people.

2. Your friends just don’t quite understand the all-out war it is to have the first shower.

Hot water, duh! What can I say? After the seventeenth shower it gets a bit chilly in there.

3. It’s totally not creepy to lick the food you don’t want your siblings to steal from you.

And it’s even less creepy when your siblings still eat it anyways.

4. No friends to hang out with tonight? Don’t worry, you’re siblings are there.

And, lucky for you, you have so many of them that at least one sibling is bound to be free and willing to hang out.

5. Family photos? HA.

In our world, there’s no such thing as everyone being ready at the same time in a picture. Positive note? We’re good at candids.

6. Themed family portraits.

I’m not sure if this is a thing small families do too, but it seems to be incredibly easy to have matching or themed family portraits for those rare family photos that work out.

7. If someone calls “fives,” there’s absolutely nothing you can do but be jealous of their seat.

When there’s so many of you, your sacred seat on the couch doesn’t stand a chance unless you call Fives.

8. Hand me downs galore!

Hand me downs are some of the best and worst things you can get in a big family. Sure, it’s a bunch of free clothes that you don’t have to buy for yourself, but it can also be a bunch of free clothes that were only in style circa four years before you were born.

9. “I can’t -- family party.”

Need I say more? Your friends constantly make fun of you for your endless array of family events -- from birthday parties to first communions to soccer games, you always have some event or another that requires your presence. You’ve probably even gotten to the point that you start making up other excuses just so you can change up your answer from the constant “family stuff” and make it a bit more interesting.

10. You reach a point where you just start making up the ages and/or birthdays of all of your siblings.

Let’s be real, who can remember all those birthdays? If you don’t make up the ages, you’ll often reach a point where time has essentially frozen and you all stay the same age in your mind (read: to my friends, my oldest brother has been 29 years old for the past 4 years).

11. Introducing a significant other to the fam is so nerve-wracking, so you sit there like:

Sure, it’s intimidating meeting the parents in a family of any size, but when you add to that your army of siblings it gets even scarier. Not to mention, if you’re the youngest, like me, it’s all the more daunting.

12. You can spend about just as much time saying goodbye to extended family as you do hanging out at a party.

I mean, when you’ve got over 50 people to say goodbye to, how can you make it go faster? You’ve got two options: spend a century and a half saying goodbyes, or take a page out of Ron’s book and make a sweeping adios.

13. Ugh, “calling shotgun.”

Calling shotgun is an all-out nightmare. Honestly, when was the last time you remember the actual words securing your ticket to the front row seat? Come on, we all know it was based on who sprinted the fastest to the car and clung onto the front door handle until the car was unlocked so they could climb in.

14. Holiday time means grab bag time.

We all know it’s downright near impossible to buy a good present for every member of your family, so we resort to the classics – Secret Santa, White Elephant, Grab Bag. You name it; we’ve done it.

15. There’s no such thing as being alone with your massive family in tow.

Okay, so this is true for any family, but still. At the end of the day, even with the fights over showers, the [sometimes] awful hand me downs, the constant conflicts and more, there’s nobody more important to surround yourself with than your fam bam.