Mama in the City

A blog about raising my family in downtown Vancouver

Love, Marriage, Siblings and Cousins

The other week my side of the family gathered together to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary. I'm so proud that my parents have been married for 40 years and will have more years ahead of them together. We celebrated with an afternoon soiree of friends and a very small amount of extended family from my mum's side.

The thing about my family is, it is small. Both my parents are only children and there is a limited amount of cousins and relatives. Growing up we had a lot of pretend aunts and uncles that filled the role because we literally had no aunties, no uncles and no cousins. To celebrate my parents grand occasion we had a family portrait done in their living room. My parents, my 3 sisters, their husbands and a total of 4 grandchildren all posed together to mark the anniversary.


Ben and his sister Josie, April 1, 2012. So happy these two have many aunts and uncles and cousins to boot!

Did you grow up with a gaggle of cousins and a troop of aunts and uncles?

8 comments:

I did. My father was from a family of six children, and my mom was the youngest of 15 kids. I mostly grew up with my father's side of the family. But still there was a huge bunch of us. I remember once having a family reunion of just my father's mother's side. I think there was about fifty of us. I have 13 first cousins on my father's side. I have no idea how many on my mom's it's too big a family. I actually don't know half of my relatives because it's just too big. I might even live in the same city, or neighborhood, pass by them every day, and I wouldn't know. 

April 13, 2012 at 9:20 AM  
Amanda said...

I didn't have many cousins growing up either, but the Hubs' family makes up for that in spades.  Lilah's going to have more relatives than she knows what to do with, and most of them live right here on the lower mainland!  Every Canada Day is also known as Family Day when everyone gets together.  It's absolutely wonderful to now be part of a bigger, and yet somehow closer-knit family.

April 14, 2012 at 2:09 PM  
Kristen said...

It's so fantastic to see your parent's celebrating 40 years.  We too grew up with non-related Aunties and Uncles.  My Dad had a half-brother who was already grown when he came along (18 years apart) and my Mom has a brother 13 years younger than she.  They moved west away from their families when they started out so we never really knew their siblings.  Now, I'm raising my kids on the opposite coast and grateful for FaceTime and Skype so that they know their relatives (both in Canada and in England).   

April 15, 2012 at 10:09 AM  

...and soon little Lilah will have a sibling! So exciting!

April 16, 2012 at 6:29 PM  

all I can say is WOW. 15 kids. Give that woman a medal. I can't imagine being pregnant all those times and giving birth. WOW. You definitely are on the flip side to my tiny family :)

April 16, 2012 at 6:30 PM  

Yes! In my circle of friends it is 50/50 with parents that are still together. I also have some friends that are divorced with young children. Happy to have celebrated the big anniversary with them!
My husband has a huge family. Lots of brother and sisters, lots of cousins...but alas they are in Florida. So, we don't get to see them much. I totally agree about Skype, etc....seriously awesome for those situations when you can't be together!

April 16, 2012 at 6:30 PM  
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August 8, 2012 at 8:22 PM  

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