For those of us with very small families...

I think my DC will end up with a small family and it makes me very sad.

My parents moved to the UK shortly before I was born so growing up it was just my parents and my siblings. I had many aunts and uncles but they were all abroad and I always felt lonely during big occasions that they were always celebrating together and we had no one.

Now, one of my siblings lives on the other side of the world and if and when he has children, it’s unlikely the cousins will be close. My other sibling won’t ever have children. On my husband’s side he has one sibling who has only one child but they also live far away and due to various other reasons we don’t see each other often. It means my children will grow up not really having anyone else and that makes me very sad that they’ll be as isolated as we were. I at least have my parents nearby though which is something.

That's so lovely and wholesome

It won't last forever. Our worst ever Christmas 3 of us sat around looking at each other. Youngest at home, just finished uni, 2 older away travelling. Ten years on and there are now 15 of us round the table at Christmas, I've had to buy lots of extra plates etc. Worth waiting for

I have two family members left and one is very distant. I became the oldest person in my direct family left alive when I was 24. I struggle with being the keeper of memories, and also with being the keeper of all the stuff. I am the hub for the others and the one that arranges the occasions and Christmas dinners and so on. I am also the funeral arranger and the executor of wills.

It is hard to have no one to ask about anything. Does that run in the family? I don’t know. Did we go there when we were children? Maybe? Where did we bury mum/uncle/grandpa? What did grandma used to say about….?

I’ve got my 2 DC and my brother left, that’s all 😞
parents were both only children, no cousins, aunts or uncles.
I often feel very alone.

I only have my father who is getting very elderly. I don’t feel alone because I have my own DCs and DH . I kind of dealt with it all when my first child was born. Sometimes I get a pang when I see a grandmother helping her daughter with her kids or a big family gathering in a restaurant. I’m sad that I never had that and that my kids don’t have it either.

i have loads of friends so I’m lucky in that way.

DH and DC here and quite happy with that.

Dh's parents are happy living their own lives and we rarely hear from them, see them once a year or so.

My parents have both passed away now.

My mum died recently, I was an only child so really it’s just DH and our children. Family is the people who make time for you. I don’t focus my energy looking in at other people’s narrative of a big family instead I am appreciative of the good friends who are building bonds with us and want to be close to us.

I have a small family but I'm not bothered by it particularly and I'm a bit bemused that anyone would be. Why is having a large family thought to be better? There's no correlation between the size of the family and its quality.

I just have my DH and DC. No siblings, DM has dementia so our relationship is nothing like it was.

I find I cope by focusing on friendships. I've got some really solid friends. I don't know what I would do without them. It doesn't really help at times like Christmas when most of my friends are working through multiple family members.