The Fam

Well, I've already written more in the month of January than in some months in 2009! I was reading back on some posts from earlier, wondering what the heck I could possibly have had to say, and laughing at some of the stories I'd documented, so glad I'd done so. So while I'm not calling it a resolution, I'm hopeful I'll remember to continue documenting the kids' lives for posterity. I digress.

This post is about family. In some respect, family is what you make it. And by that I mean family is who you make it. Family does not have to be your blood relatives. Which I guess is pretty obvious. I mean your spouse isn't a blood relative but is probably the most important person in your life. And in my case, the same holds true for my kids.

So we can choose who to surround ourselves with, and in that sense, we can choose our family. But I am really lucky because not only do I have some amazing, supportive friends, who I really do consider to be family, but I also have a wonderful family. I have four really caring, really interesting, really accomplished sisters in law. I have three really caring, really interesting, really accomplished brothers in law. I have nieces and nephews who know me and who I know and love. My point is that were I choosing who to spend my time with, these are exactly the people I'd want to be with. Which makes the holidays all the more fun.

For kicks, and in case you care, here are the members of my side of our family:

These are my parents with Marcie.

My big brother Bob and his wife Karin. He's an accomplished attorney; she's a doctor focusing on psychiatry. They have three boys: Sal, Vince and Leo-- all of whom are pretty much fluent in French (even though their parents are not-- what a great gift!).

I did manage to get one photo of my younger brother and his wife together, but they didn't know I was taking it. So out of respect for them, I'm not posting it. This is Tram (pronounced Chum). Their middle child is in the background with a "cheese" face. Here, she's helping the kids make sugar cookies. Tram is a high school teacher (which is how we met). She and my brother Bryan have three kids: Joey, Ethan and Calliope. I think one reason I don't have any photos of them together is because a 2 1/2 year old and 7-month-old keep you on your toes.

This is Bryan and Megan (my younger sister). I always thought of Megan as the family baker (she is very talented), but it turns out my brother is quite a cook, too. These two moved away from California to Pennsylvania when he was a sophomore and she was in 5th grade. We used to joke that they were the Pennsylvania family because many of the people they grew up around never even met me or Bob. I think they have a special bond because of their time together in the H family of four.

And last but not least are Timour (pronounced Tee-more) and Megan. They are the newlyweds of the group, and they live in San Francisco right downstairs from my older brother, so they are very close to Sal, Vince and Leo. Coincidentally, Timour, like my nephews, is fluent in French.

Missing from these photos, I suppose, is one of me and Jason. I don't have any of just the two of us from the holidays. But if you look to the right, you'll notice that we did snap a new family photo, which I've added to the blog. Boy, we're starting to look our age . . .