Large families

[cellboy]

As I am receiving and writing holiday cards, I am amazed at the age and age difference of some of the members of my family. My mom was the baby of 7 children. My cousin, her niece, sent me a card with her age on it. She is 70, only 15 yrs younger than my mom. On my dad's side, he was the baby of 15 children (horny French Canadian Catholics!). His oldest sisters were already out of the house and married with kids when he was born. He said he really never knew the older ones. They had already flown the coop, leaving an exhausted mother behind (lol). And some of his cousins were way older than him. And some of his 2nd cousins almost the same age. Odd. Years ago,in the 70's, I counted all the aunts, uncles, cousins and 2nd cousins that were still alive.... I think we had almost 500 members in all. Those horny Canadians! Must be those cold winters. And it's a shame we don't really all know each other well. We've all met once or twice over the years though.

My Uncle spent yrs publishing a family tree and history, for the family, on my mom's side, going back to the 1700's, and the American Revolution. It's quite a thick book. And very interesting.