They are often very fun and you get to see people you normally don’t get to see! It’s nice to catch up with everybody, and gatherings usually come with very good food toom You also have excitement of the celebration of a holiday, being able to share that with your extended family is awesome!

Of course, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, sometimes one of my older relatives will go on about something (nothing racist or anything, more about manners, etiquette, tradition, etc., but they seem to never stop talking!) and I have just have to respectfully listen. It is definitely outweighed by all the fun stuff though!

Yes, I like my extended family.

My boyfriend’s family is large. There are 12-15 cousins that are just millennials, and even more in the gen-x generation. Meaning, they can do a full team sports game outside, they can have 10+ player board games, there are ones boyfriend likes more and hangs around more and ones boyfriend avoids. The conversations do tend to be a lot of reminiscing about being kids. They joke, they laugh. I will say, his family is exceptionally well behaved. My family could never do this. My family swears, fights, gets overly drunk and overly political. Not his. They’re kind.

They were a thing when I was a kid, but ever since the generation that organised them has passed away, they’ve stopped happening. I do kinda missed them. I thought they were weird as a kid without much close family, but I still enjoyed them.

Yeh. Some families do like each other, despite the internets effort to make us believe otherwise.

I like them. It’s fun if you only see them once a year. If nothing else, enjoy the pets, food, and drink:)

When our grands were alive, yes. Not since they passed. All parents on both sides were extremely selfish.

I think there are many sliding scales that apply simultaneously. One is age. I used to look forward to this sort of thing when I was a kid and the enthusiasm has decreased since then at the pace of a falling parabola. To a point where I moved far away. Number of certifiable assholes present is another one. If you can hide with the good guys, it’s okay. If there is no way to escape, it sucks. These days are held to please that part of the family which is closer to death of natural causes. So another sliding scale is how much do you want to please your elders. How is the food? That might be worth it alone. And as a last example, how much do you like your relatives? Configure these sliders and you get your opinion. Anything from absolutely hating it to loving every minute is possible and no opinion wrong.

Do you like hanging out with friends? Imagine you’re also related to them.

I’ve found it to be a more and more positive experience as I get older. Not due to increasing wisdom or anything, just changes in how I prioritize connection and my skill at socializing with people I don’t actually know super well.

My family generally only does this for weddings and funerals. So it’s rare, and there’s a “theme” so to speak.