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Our extended family gatherings stopped when the most senior members either died or were in failing health. Mr Paradox and I have seen this cycle twice with our families of origin. First with grandparents and much later with parents.
 
paradox3 said:
Our extended family gatherings stopped when the most senior members either died or were in failing health. Mr Paradox and I have seen this cycle twice with our families of origin. First with grandparents and much later with parents.
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Yeah, one of the things that kind of slowed things down for us was my aunt (Dad's sister) and her husband having health issues. She's in her eighties and has been the most senior member of my paternal line since Dad passed. Mom's family was small and are all gone unless you get into second and further cousins and we've kind of lost touch with that rather large family group.
 
I have five first cousins still living and I am only in contact with two of them. But the contact is fairly minimal. . . Christmas cards and a few emails throughout the year.

Both of my cousins have children and one of them has grandkids. But I haven't seen my first cousins once removed in decades. The first cousins twice removed I have never even met.
 
I have one first cousin I am in contact with on a regular basis. Four others were at my nephew's wedding this summer, a wedding his mother and aunt did not attend. I have had no contact with my first cousin on ky Dad's side in Vancouver for close to 60 years. The last time I saw my first cousin on my mother's side in Vancouver was at her father's funeral which I led in Calgary. There is a family of first cousins in Medicine Hat that mostly drove me crazy. The last time I saw them was at their brother's funeral about five or six years ago. He was a random target chosen by a man to be an example to businesses in Medicine Hat that he was trying to extort.

The family gatherings we attend are mostly with B's family.
 
I really only have two first cousins, my aunt's two kids. On Mom's side, my uncle had a stepdaughter, so a first cousin by marriage, but she kind of disappeared after my uncle died. Ran into her now and then, but not regularly.

After that, there's my maternal grandmother's massive family tree. She was the youngest of like eight (that lived, there were also a couple who died young) and one of her sisters had like eight kids as well. So I had 2nd, 3rd, and so on cousins of varying degrees of removal coming out my wazoo on that side. And all before my grandmother had my mother, so most of Mom's generation were older than her and getting into middle age by the time I knew them. The attendance at family reunions during the 70s and 80s sometimes broke 100.
 
Geography definitely makes it more complicated when family members are spread out across the country or even farther.

From what I can see, immediate families need to make a real effort to stay in touch. Let alone those extended networks of cousins.

Back in the sixties, we had an annual family reunion with my dad's cousins. The total attendance was maybe around 40 people. Most of the family was based in the west end of Toronto in those days.

When my dad's aunts and uncles passed on, this and other family traditions ended. The family started spreading out farther too.
 
My family is pretty similar to everyone above. Seems once the older Patriarchs and Matriarchs pass the family system branches off to begin again. Other cultures seem to have a more far reaching extension of family.
 
Was reading about two original settlers here in Scarborough whose descendants have maintained a loose association over the years. It gets more and more unwieldy as time and generations go on
 
Also, consider the theoretical family tree with each previous generation doubling (I e. two parents for everyone). If you do the math, you will reach a point that your tree has more spots than there were people alive at that time. This has been estimated to be around the year 1200.

In reality, single individuals occupy multiple places on the trees.

There is much in ancestry/ genealogy that boggles my mind.
 
paradox3 said:
There is much in ancestry/ genealogy that boggles my mind.
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Yeah, I've kind of left that to family members who are more interested. Right now, it's my youngest brother, before him it was Mom and before her, her little brother. I have trouble even keeping track of the formal designations for cousins. 2nd cousin twice removed baffles me, though I did a find a good explanation of cousins on Youtube recently that kind of clarified things.
 
There are charts which detail the cousin relationships but they tend to confuse me.

Someone once told me to look for the two Original Siblings which has been more helpful for me. It's relatively straightforward to work down from there.
 
We were in NYC at this time in 2018 and 2015. We went to a great diner with singing servers on our last trip and enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. It was fun. Today is a quiet day. All this talk of turkey is making me want to go to our local butcher for a stuffed turkey roll. It is delicious. Real turkey and good stuffing. Hubby is golfing today. Maybe I'll get some today and do it for tonight's supper.....
 
My kids have many cousins on their Dad’s side and they don’t really keep in touch because we’ve never lived close to them and they don’t share many memories. But the cousins on my side are their beloved extended family. My kids are working hard to stay connected too so that their kids have a special cousin bond.
 
I wished one of my American cousins Happy Thanksgiving today. She lives in New Jersey and we’ve visited back and forth a few times.
 
Northwind said:
We were in NYC at this time in 2018 and 2015. We went to a great diner with singing servers on our last trip and enjoyed a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. It was fun. Today is a quiet day. All this talk of turkey is making me want to go to our local butcher for a stuffed turkey roll. It is delicious. Real turkey and good stuffing. Hubby is golfing today. Maybe I'll get some today and do it for tonight's supper.....
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and i know on the Island you can get top quality sustainable free range gluten free kosher halal affirming etc food

It is tres expensive but NUMMERS NUMMY!!!
 
Delightful Life said:
and i know on the Island you can get top quality sustainable free range gluten free kosher halal affirming etc food
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This meat store sells mostly local meats where possible. Things like turkey rolls, stuffed chicken breasts, sausage and the like are made in store. They have great bacon. Yummy.

Delightful Life said:
It is tres expensive but NUMMERS NUMMY!!!
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This store is quite reasonably priced.
 
It got cold enough that I got to slip on a leaf covered rainpuddle lol

Today is gloriously sunny

I can see Northwind's place from here lol
*waves*
 
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