We {my mother's family} used to have a huge family reunion & gathering {200+ people} family get together on this weekend...softball games/horse shoes/card games/badminton/volley ball/croquet/lots & lots of photo's and food --- OMG, the food!

There were 13 siblings on my mothers side of the family: divorces/deaths & remarriages but everyone was welcome to come. "In-laws & Out-laws"...as we called them; but we cousins had a blast! Now, that has ground to a halt and mom's passing was the last of the 'MOHICANS'{as we called her}...she was the baby of that huge family and at 86 that huge group just can't manage to come together anymore as just cousins!

What about your family - still do any 'Family Reunions?'

My expanded family used to have a huge reunion (like your 200+ one) except it was on Labor Day weekend. Sadly, the older ones have mostly passed on and the younger ones have scattered across the country.
As far as Memorial Days goes....my paternal family originated in a small NE Louisiana community...not even a stoplight town....just a road sign lol. And all the men, it seems anyway, served in WWII.....and my aunts would go to the community cemetary and plant lil American flags at the graves of all the vets that had passed.
All my aunts have passed now, but some locals still carry in that flag tradition....Ive even participated a time or two myself. Let me tell ya, there must be a lotta onions around that cememtary somewhere, because I got those damn tears welling up in my eyes when Ive helped olant those flags lol.

For this Memorial Day, Im waiting on a brother to come in from Dallas.....ribs have been rubbed and are chilling in the fridge....and a fresh bottle of Knob Creek has been bought

We generally don't have memorial day celebrations, except the occasional bar b que.

Our family reunions are generally large occasions which bring family from all over the world, let alone the country, and we have them once every two years on a random date.

We were supposed to have a family bbq but it won't stop raining

My dad died while on duty in the AF. Yes this is a day I celebrate. My family is a very close family, no matter how far or near we are

Won't reply to anything else as it has nothing to do with the topic

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, EVERYBODY!!!

Yes, RebelArcher; I can remember it being called 'Decoration Day' and we spent the day at the cemetery decorating all the deceased military service graves! I was pretty small but it was organized by our church/youth group/4-H and some schools too on that Friday before that last Saturday of May...we'd get a sack lunch and head out to the cemetery to clean up and decorate the graves!

I'd forgotten why the dates were changed so I had to go look it up:

Big thanks to your dad for his service and sacrifice.

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays.....a day to remember real heroes who gave their life for our country.
My dad is a WWII vet and I remember bbqs with him and uncles who also served....listening to the stories they told....and watching these tough ol bastards slyly wipe a tear from their eye when mentioning a buddy that got killed. God bless em....Americas finest.

Sometimes we get together. This weekend happens to be one of those weekends. Just dinner and hang out. I wish it was a huge family gathering! That sounds like so much fun!

I come from a long line of military. Love our heroes!

Those are awesome memories huh?

If memory serves me correctly; it was one of my older cousins {freshly returned from Viet Nam} that asked if we could start a Journal to be read at our Family Reunions about our military service members {both men & women}: years of service/what division/what they did/how long they served and any special stories that they wanted to be retold...and the journal started sometime in the mid 60's!
Instead of being just information that was told & retold after the aunt or uncle was dead and part of their eulogy --- we were read pages for each Aunt and Uncle while we were eating and we heard their military service record! It really brought the war and their life experience right there into our life & times for each of us young people.

I remember this one Uncle Buck...huge gruff old guy; very stand offish and rarely ever cracked a smile! Found out he was the last of the Fort Riley Calvary trainers for the mounted troops; and here I was head over heels in love with anything equine...I managed to get brave enough to seek him out and start a conversation and we hit it off like a house a fire --- broke my heart when he died. But had it not been for that journal...I'd probably never known his work behind the scenes to train those mules and horses that were sent over seas to do that heavy work and none of those horses ever got shipped back home - most of them were eaten because rations were so low!

Yep, some of the best I have!

^ That looks like the same flag I posted in my "PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN" thread.

I swear I didnt steal it from there!

Yours is prettier. I may borrow it later.

That is a great memory 2old! That's what the day is for

My first command out of bootcamp was at the Ceremonial Guard in D.C, my division was responsible for rendering the 21 gun salute at various military funerals that took place at Arlington National cemetery, these funerals ranged from retired military members who had long since passed and wanted their final resting place to be at Arlington(the wait to get buried there can be up to 3 years) to people who had just recently died in combat(they go to the front of the line) it provides an interesting perspective.

Anyway back to the topic, every Memorial day at Arlington flags are placed at each of the headstones, these flags are placed largely by volunteers from various military command in the area. This year over a quarter million flags will placed.

So in closing what i want to say is enjoy your 3 day weekend to the fullest, do whatever it is that you do, not just this weekend, but everyday there after. Enjoy the freedoms that this country offers, and that these men and woman fought for you to have. I guarantee that every one who fought for you to have these freedoms wants to take full advantage of them and make their sacrifices worth it!

Drink, Dance, Vacation, Party, do whatever it is to show these people that that their sacrifices are well appreciated and celebrate their life, by living the yours!

Edited for off-topic.

soufie
Site Moderator

We have a huge family and many have served. One of my brothers has a lot of land and we all get together every 4th of July for a family reunion Bar B Que. The kids swim in the pool and play on the swings. guys play horseshoes and belting down a few beers or manning the Bar B Que. gals sitting around talking and laughing.

Every year there are new additions to the family and a lot of laughs. In the night we let the kids hold multi color sparklers ( all under the watchful eye of Mom or Dad) as we lite off some colorful fireworks.

Over the last 10 years or so there were 4 family members who were serving at various times. 3 Marines, 1 Army. And they were not always able to be at the Bar B Que, but their Moms and Dads made a plate of food for them and set it aside and we all had them in our thoughts

It is a special day for my Family. One to appreciate your family and honor those who serve.

I come from a long line of active Military starting back before the American Revolution War. We used to always have a huge 3 day reunion when my grandparents were alive. We would all go to the pioneer cemetery clean that up and place the flags.. Then we would share the stories of our fallen in our family. I miss it a lot...

Now we get together every 2 years, this year we are doing it over the 4th at my parents we have family coming over from France..etc So looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Here I will be going up tomorrow to attend a memorial service up at
Byers lake that is where the wall for Veterans is located. It is kind of a big deal about 200 motorcyclists will be there along with many different organizations to celebrate the day. Then have a lunch afterwards...