About my family.

I have a big family. My kids have an even bigger family. This makes this time of year somewhat of a challenge. So I thought, I'll spend a few moments, and reflect on my fandamily and just why it is that I do like em, and enjoy being around them!

To start at the bottom, and work my way up, my youngest brother J, is 21. He is a real baby of the family. He was born when I was ten, and so I have always been a bit separate from him: By the time he was six I had moved out of home, and when he was seven, I was a Mum. So, in some ways, I never really was a kid with him. But I remember the day he was born: My first experience of labour, my first awareness of how babies got into the world. He was eight weeks early, and affected by RH isoimmunisation, so not exactly normal, but he was a fighter. I know his life is hard for him at the moment, and I hope that he knows he can come to me if I need him.

Then there is M. My little sister, now 24, a newly married woman, and a Mum of three, with her fourth beauty on the way. She is also a loving step mum of one more. I have to say, if there was a sibling who is closest to all the other sibling's, it is M. She keeps up with everybody, better than anybody. She is smart, fun and talented, with a gorgeous voice and rhythm which rocks. She is skinny and pretty and a spectacular aunty. She is brave (anyone who goes on a several week long tour of the country in a camper van with two kids under two is definitely brave) and a caring wonderful person, who I am proud to know, let alone have had a hand in developing.

Next up the list is JP. 27 years old, Dad to one beautiful little girl and about to be married, at which point he will also become step dad to a lovely lad who we have had in our family since he was about three. JP is the quiet one. He doesn't say alot, but when he does, he means it. He is around in a quiet kind of way, but has a bit of a temper. I remember him best as a sixteen year old, who would babysit for his nieces, and who stayed home to care for our dad when he was terminally ill. JP is unique, and a right typical kiwi bloke, rough on the outside and sincere and sweet on the inside.

I am the next one in the family, and right before me is my big sister, D. 35 years old, and linked to in a previous post, D was my nemesis as a child. She was the talented one, the smart one, and most definitely the pretty one. She was the one I should have been more like: But funny, isn't it, how when you grow up, you find out things aren't always what they seem to be, and she felt much the same about me? D and I have established an ever expanding common ground since the birth of her daughter,who is the same age as my DS. She was one of my strong supporters when I decided to return to study, and has been a huge help in the technical and artistic side of setting up my practice. She is also the most talented artist in the family!

In pole position, first born in our tribe, is yet another J, JD. My parents weren't very imaginative with boy names! J is now 38, and he and I have always had a difficult relationship. J made some choices in life that I would not have. we have spent years incommunicado. But in the last two years, he has worked hard to begin turning his life around. He is clean now, and even beginning to gain some weight. And I am proud of him.

As referred to earlier, my dad passed away nearly ten years ago. He is missed. Nothing will ever replace him, but he taught us all well. Family are the people you choose to have around you, and they are the most important thing. So to top off our family, we have my Mum, G, and her partner, believe it or not, J. They have been together for nine years, and he is my kids Grandad, even though Dad is too. And Mum? Our relationship is not perfect. She can be a bit neurotic, sometimes hard to deal with, but at the end of the day, she raised six kids to be pretty awesome people, if my round up holds any sway. And she loves us. And we love her.

So that is why, on Christmas day, I will have a day of catching up with my family, and will enjoy doing so.

All up, six kids, four partners, ten nieces and nephews, Matriarch, step dad, and more than a few extra in laws, if the past is anything to go by. And that is just in the afternoon.