When we moved to the suburbs, seeing our relatives became rare unlike before when we were residing in the city that we see them too often. Now we only meet our relatives during clan reunions and other occasions like weddings or birthdays with grand celebrations. Maybe he was feeling old, my husband said that why don't we invent an occasion every month so our relatives can have a get together. Nothing serious, just to meet each other for a casual chat. However, when the cost was brought up, yeah, that would be an issue. But I agree that seeing relatives 4 times a year is a nice idea.
Almost all my relatives live in another country, so it's difficult to have any kind of get together now, but I really do miss the regular weekly gathering we used to have years ago...A few used to gather at my grandparents house every weekend ...uncles, aunts, cousins.. and at least every other month the whole family clan , and as we're Scottish I mean Clan in the very sense of the word .... . would gather for a big family party. I think very fondly of those days, I especially miss everyone singing and playing their various musical instruments...but so many of the family are gone now, and the rest live so far away.
I wish we could get together also. We are all so spread out. Some live on the west coast, some on the east coast and some in the middle. We can never decide on a perfect location. Then we have problems with sone have kids in school, most work etc. Last time was a few years ago on a wedding cruise and that was a blast.
I miss family reunions. I remember enjoying them as i grew up. I am 57 and out of a family of 8, only 4 siblings remain alive with one of them diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Unfortunately, the reunions were with my moms side of the family. The aunts and uncles are gone and my cousins don't seem to see the need to get together. I often text 1 cousin in Oklahoma, but it is a far cry from feeling surrounded by family like reunions can offer.
Although I have enjoyed living in different parts of the country, as I - and they - are growing older, I miss being able to see my family often. I have three brothers older than myself, the oldest by twelve years, and we see one another only about every few years. We have all been together at the same time only once since I graduated from high school, and that was when I went home for the 4th of July a few years ago, that being the unofficial family reunion period here in Millinocket as well as in my home town in Michigan. Most of my uncles and aunts have died while I have been away and, while I had seen them from time to time when I was home or when they stopped by wherever I was living, that's even less often than I see my brothers. Although, while I was in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, a couple of my aunts and an uncle also lived in the Valley, so I saw them often, and other relatives would come by more often, since some of them would winter in the Valley. Here in Maine, though, I am not on the way to anything, and I have no other relatives here, so people would have to make a point to come here, and that doesn't happen often enough. Financially, I could travel and my wife and I both enjoy it, but that's hard to do when we have cats - particularly the two older ones who I hate to leave in the care of strangers, and if I keep feeding them as well as I do, they'll probably all outlive me.