Strong Ethnic Heritage

Oh the fun of family reunions. I've coined a phrase at our house. It's "strong ethnic heritage". When you come from a family with a strong ethnic heritage, you can have a lot of fun. Think of the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, they had plenty of strong ethnic heritage. Think of Mexican families, Norwegian families, Italian families, etc. and you'll find examples of strong ethnic heritage.

I refer to my family reunion as My Big Fat Lebanese Life. I'm part Lebanese and let me assure you that there is a lot of strong ethnic heritage here. Our family tree spans over 30 feet wide when printed out on a plotter (see photo below). We've now started the 8th generation on the tree. There are over 1,090 names on the tree. We have a reunion every year and plan for about 250 each year to attend. (That's no typo--I mean 250!) We eat traditional Lebanese food, we fellowship and we reconnect. We meet the new babies and we mourn those who have gone before us. We play games and have a dance where we mix in the traditional Lebanese Dubke dance with modern music.

It's something to behold. And having seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I can put names of my relatives on the characters in that movie. We laugh harder than anyone at the antics of the Greek family. I wish everyone could have that strong sense of family and heritage. I've only missed a few reunions in my life and I cried every time I couldn't go. We make a point to take our kids and instill in them the sense of family and tradition. One of our family reunion slogans is, "It's not just a reunion, it's a way of life."