Anyone who knows my family knows that I have a lot of siblings.

Not a lot comparatively to the Catholic community, though. There's a reason we're called Catholic rabbits. Big families are often part of the territory. But a family of eight, with five children excluding myself, is often considered large to anyone not in the Catholic, or even just Christian, range sometimes.

For reference, I have a list of reasons why four or six kids in a family is the ideal number of kids. People think I'm crazy.

Anyways, I'm writing this as one of my sisters, 3 of 6, is yelling about a hill in Minecraft she has dubbed "Pig Hill." My brother is taking a nap. I just got the Christmas lists for my other siblings. They want everything from a gyroscope to the Hamilton soundtrack. We're in the process of deciding which gifts we can pay for together as a group and still have a little bit of semblance of a bank account left. It's a struggle, but we love it.

Maybe it's strange, but I grew up with so many siblings, and the idea of being an only child is something very, very foreign to me. I don't understand how family life is without a bunch of siblings who have your back and who always keep you company.

My daily routine at home is a good example of what life is like with a huge house full of kids, even with me just visiting now and not living there with all of them.

I would get up in the morning, sometimes on my own, and sometimes with some "help." That "help" comes in the form of games being played in the basement, where my room is. People playing board games, cleaning their rooms with music on, watching the TV, and talking. At eight in the morning, there are usually already people over. The bathroom has two sinks, because having four girls living in the basement means that we need a larger sink area. Getting ready for the day can take a while, depending on who's in the shower (and knowing which sister takes the longest in the shower.)

So I skip the shower after deciding to come back after breakfast, and I go upstairs. Depending on the hour, it's usually a flurry of activity: people eating, reading the paper, making eggs, putting away clean dishes from the night before. Everyone has their appointed duties — the list is on the fridge. And then it's over to the huge calendar to see what's going on during the day. Depending on what my dad's work looks like means we either have three or two cars at our disposal, and with five people in the house who can drive, it means a serious amount of finagling to get people where they need to go.

Lunch is its own adventure. Everyone either makes their own, using whatever is in the fridge, or combine together and make something bigger to share. Leftovers are usually the highest priority, and it's always first come, first serve. Come in too late, and they're gone.

Then comes the afternoon, which can be lazy and full of snuggling and reading, or it could be crazy as everyone is getting picked up from where they've been most of the day. Dinner is on the chores list, and everyone participates somehow. The radio comes on, and there's dancing and singing over the chopping of vegetables.

Don't even get me started on cleanup. It's crazy.

A big family life is something that I think has been ingrained into me for so long that living outside of that lifestyle is confusing and a little disorienting. It's a complicated, often routine-filled life, where helping your sibling comes before your own needs. It means a lot of giving up the last slice of cake, putting up with jokes that aren't very funny, and spending all of the money in your wallet taking them out for something fun before you go back to college. But there's also something to be said for everything you get out of it, for the wisdom you gain, and the ability to balance multiple schedules, and the numerous inside jokes. I can beat anyone at Taboo simply because of the amount of inside jokes.

I guess some people enjoy the independence of living as an only child. I know there's no way to judge someone off of how many children they have, and that would be wrong. But I wouldn't trade my siblings for the world, and despite my life being insane with them, it would also be insane without them.