Do you love, or dread family reunions?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

SF VIP
Location
The Sticks, Northeast PA.
I have to admit I was never a huge fan of family reunions. Alcoholism is extremely prevalent in my family. My mom's dad and brother were alcoholics. My mother had five sisters, who all married alcoholics. And all of my uncles died of complications of severe alcoholism. My brother is an alcoholic. And my older brother couldn't touch the stuff for fear of relapsing. So family reunions could start out fun, but.....................
Also, I feel reunions bring together a lot of individuals, whose only real reason for being there is because of who slept with who 30 years ago.
BAH HUMBUG, where 's dog to kick?
 

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We Love to get together with our kids/grandkids/great grandkids. Due to this virus, our visits have been somewhat limited over this past year, but now, most have been vaccinated...except for the little ones, and we are beginning to visit more frequently, again. Luckily, we don't have any "boozers" or "strange" types in the family, and everyone gets along nicely.
 
Not much for people (in general) anymore, but back in the early 80's, hubby and I attended a family reunion on the Island (Vancouver Island, BC), and while it was nice to see a few, I ended up helping more with all of the children and little ones, meal and drink serving, tidying, and whatever else needed doing, partly due to my nature, and partly due to the fact no one else offered to help/pitch-in.

I told my husband, never again.
 
Pinky said:
We enjoy our family get-togethers. Alas, to my dismay, there are no little ones as there used to be. The nephews/nieces aren't having children. The ambience is different without the youthful energy.
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I agree, the absence of little ones truly is noticed today.

Not so many marriages happening as before... and definitely not as many babies being born.
 
My husband's side still has an annual family reunion. I used to go for the sake of our children. Well the children are adults and husband is dead. No more reunion for me. Ya Hoo!
 
We never had family reunions because practically the whole family lived within a 100 mile radius of out home so we visited regularly.
We didn't have a big family to begin with.
Now most are gone or aren't able to travel. My kids and grandkids are not that far away and for that I am thankful.
 
In my youth, family reunions at my Mother's parents farm were a real "over the river and through the woods" experience. I truly enjoyed spending time playing in the barn with my multitude of cousins followed by table groaning meals. Those times are "long time gone" as are nearly all the relatives.
 
The only ones I ever went to was my husband's family and it was quite large. It was fun but all about the children, of which there were a lot. No alcohol as they are very religious.
 
Sassycakes said:
I have to admit I really miss our family reunions. We had one every year until the family started getting smaller and smaller. Aunt's, Uncles, and cousins sadly passing away. They were wonderful times.
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And the younger ones aren't interested in carrying on the tradition.

We had a big one every year - big, because all the couples had 4 to 8 kids back then. It was a lot of fun; tons of great food, we played horseshoe toss, badminton, and baseball, told stories and jokes. There was a lot of hugging and kissing, and for a few years in a row there would be a guy in his military uniform making a surprise appearance for his grandma. One year, it was my brother.
 
They were yearly when I was young. Always over 100 people. Not sure when they dwindled off. Many, like me, moved away. There was one final one a few years ago. I didn’t know many of them. It was interesting to see the old family farm.

The real reunion is at a funeral. It’s expected to be a major gathering. Fortunately, as I said, I moved away so don’t have to go.
 
Dread, definitely. As a friend (who had an even more disfunctional childhood than I) said upon hearing that a misguided relative of hers was thinking about planning a family reunion, "Yeah, right! I MIGHT show up if I can constantly keep my back to the wall!"
 
Holiday family get togethers, dinners, parties were mediocre at best especially once not a child. Just like the high school reunion if one wanted to stay in touch or see a person they would do it. They will fade like high school reunions as well because of social media, cheaper long distance calling etc.

Another excuse for a party.
 

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