Two older brothers and one younger sister doesn't exactly ring any "Crazy Huge Family" bells, but when you add in my 20 plus cousins, my mom's seven siblings and their spouses and all the extended family that is related in some form or another and randomly shows up occasionally, the numbers begin to reach the triple digits.
Thanksgiving, which doubles as a family reunion for my mom's side of the family has reached impressive numbers of over 110 people, and we take pride in never having fewer than 80 aunts, uncles, cousins, significant others and crazy in-laws at the holiday festivities.
^That is a small Thanksgiving, so small we host it in the local Firehall so everyone fits.
Every family is unique, but I think that as a general rule, the larger the family, the crazier the people. However, I also know that all the craziest makes for some pretty incredible memories and life lessons.
Growing up in a large family has taught me that you don't have to be related to be a member. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter - these holidays are filled with the usual relatives, but honestly, anyone is welcome. Friends, neighbors, significant others or someone without a big family to spend time with are all always welcome in our homes and our hearts. Half of my friends call my mother "mom". Boyfriends and girlfriends play dress up with the younger cousins the first time they meet the family, because of course, the entire family is always there.
Family is about more than blood or marriage. Whether you have known us since birth, since first grade or for ten minutes, you and all your craziness can join us for supper.
^Our annual Three Kings celebration where all the cousins dress up as the nativity and parade around the house singing, "We Three Kings". Pictured above are two wisemen, a gypsy and a bishop - the guy on the far right isn't even related.
Speaking of supper, those of us who come from large families know that there is never a shortage of food - life is basically one, massive, never-ending potluck. This week my cousin and aunt came for a visit. Only two extra mouths to feed, so naturally my mother made, from scratch, 12 waffles, 2 pans of fried potatoes, sausage, oatmeal and a double batch of peanut butter cookies... for breakfast. Dinner was a feast of fresh, homegrown beans and potatoes with BBQ ribs, because why not. We are still eating the leftovers.
The same cooking style goes for birthday parties, holidays and family visit. However, it often pays off because you never who will show up when. Once, for my birthday, I invited a few friends over for pizza, which naturally meant my mom would make at least two other dishes and six pizzas. The party for 10 quickly became a party for 20 when neighbors and relatives stopped by after seeing the growing number of cars parked in the lawn. In a large family, there must always be food, and if you are related, you must be invited.
Having a large family has major benefits when it comes to getting work done. My summers are remembered by bailing hay with my cousins, and my winters are marked by shoveling snow and building forts long after dark. Why buy from professionals when you can call your family. Sure, they might not really know what they are doing, but at least we can all have fun making more of a mess. Besides, at least one person has to have a vague knowledge of construction or plumbing.
Large Family Fact #42 - Cousins are like siblings on steroids.
^My 16th Birthday was spent running around town in wedding dresses with my mom, cousin and sister, just like every normal teen celebrates. P.S. My mom frequents thrift stores so that we have tons of dress up clothes for our cousin photoshoots and short films.
There is nothing quite like hanging out with cousins. I can't even recount the hundreds of stories I have, partially because our parents still don't know about them and partially because there are just too many. My older cousins teased me and terrified me and didn't let me into the "cool kids club" until I could prove myself worthy, which mainly involved not tattling to our parents.
We ran through the woods, invited spy games, played hide-and-scream (hide-and-seek was too tame), ran around with homemade torches, swam in the pond for hours, filled rap videos and fashion shows, beat each other up, laughed for hours, ate way too much food and navigated the weird world of growing up together.
^Giant Sleepover in my grandma's basement - complete with a homemade pool table. Now that we are getting older, quality time is difficult, but if hanging out means crashing on the floor, we're happy.
My family is crazy. No. Really. They are crazy. We have a crazy cat lady, overbearing uncle, an uncle who will let you do anything, aunts who help you make those homemade torches, dads who shoot off fireworks, brothers who give BB guns as presents, cousins who rock the floating raft until its underwater and we've all fallen off, grandpas who NEVER turn the heat up as we all wear our coats during Thanksgiving dinner - we are crazy. We are certainly special.
At the end of the day, someone will always be there for you, even if they show up in a rusty old pickup truck that's spray-painted like a cow.
^Most recently my cousins and I used old fashioned hand tools to cut cattails out of our pond. Then my sister to proceeded to sink the pitchfork, so we launched a multi-member, several hour rescue mission complete with a rake tied to a rope. That pretty much sums up we spend time together.
