I am half Mexican, and half Lithuanian.
I have a lot of other things mixed in there, but the dominant background is Mexican. Almost everyone I have ever met in my life has been a little curious as to what culture I'm from, because not many people can tell that it's Mexican by the looks of me. I'm extremely white, I have nearly no Hispanic features, and I'm not fluent in Spanish in the least. But lo and behold, I'm half Mexican.
Hispanic families just have a stigma of being extremely, extremely enormous. Same goes for Italian families, and Puerto Rican families, and many other heritages. But there's never a dull moment when your family tree seems to go on for hundreds of years, and grandparents and great-grandparents live into their 90s.
It also didn't help that all those grandparents and great-grandparents all had like 10 or more kids. My family almost never ceases to exist; there are still dozens of people I'm related to that I don't even know are alive. But I'm not complaining because I'd rather have a million memories over a few.
Holidays are never a bore; there are always those aunts who gossip a little too much or your favorite cousin that always arrives just in time to save you from your boredom. There's always a new baby being born or someone is getting married.
(Note: This last part confuses me, all these people are getting married in my family and having babies, yet I'm not invited to anything. All I want to do is just get dressed up and drink at an open bar, is that too much to ask?)
There is always news in large families; cousin Rico got locked up again or someone wrote a book, someone is moving to Arizona or someone is moving back home from California. News never ceases to exist and you always have something new to talk about. Someone is always bringing you new clothes or recipes or kitchen utensils because you're a college student and that's the best gift you can receive. I think despite all of this, having an enormous family comes down to my two favorite things: seeing family grow in front of your eyes (i.e. little cousins or family you haven't seen in a while), and the food.
The food, fam.
Every family is multicultural and every family has their signature dish and food. My mom's side of the family always makes posole soup and authentic steak tacos and tamales and homemade tortillas. There is never an ounce of food that goes to waste; every leftover is taken by the kids and the aunts and the parents. I could go on forever about the food that is consumed within my family, but I think I'll stop here.
The other side to the amazing food is seeing my family grow. Since I have such an enormous family, it never surprises me to meet or see members that I haven't seen in over a decade. I can see cousins and second cousins grow exponentially and even I, at 21, still get the traditional "I haven't seen you since you were 'this' big!" It's all very exciting.
The partying never ceases to exist in a big family; cousin's first birthdays go until two in the morning, long after the baby is put to sleep. Christmases are enormous celebrations and Thanksgivings are feasts.
A large family is just like a lifelong party, and you never really get to go home from it.
