![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanThe day is winding down and a long weekend approacheth. Hurrah!
It is the weekend of the younger sibling's birthday party, and indeed that of the youngest niece, too. Saturday will therefore be fraught both in the afternoon and in the evening. Happily, other than in aiding the delivery of la sprogette to her party, I don't have to be there. One six year old is fine. Two are cope-with-able. A room full appeals only to other six-year olds.
The evening, of course, is when the extended portions of family arrive; the aunts and uncles, the cousins and cousins-in-law, the first cousins once, twice and thrice removed (actually, I don't think that there are any of these latter yet, but I doubt it can be that far off).
Of course, explaining the intricacies of family structure to the rest of the clan is lost. As far as they are concerned, someone is either a cousin or a second cousin. So explaining to my elder niece that such and such is her second cousin once removed is a futile endeavour.
Still, I feel it is important that someone keep track of these niceties.
Nonetheless, it makes my brain ache trying to work some of them out. Take my Auntie Ma for example (someone should >shudder<). Theoretically she is my dad's cousin (first, second, third - who knows?), but because of circumstances back when they were kids, my Nan and Granddad adopted her. So legally, she's his sister and my aunt. Except that she's also my second cousin once removed. And her daughter is simultaneously my first cousin and second cousin twice removed. So her granddaughters are simultaneously my nieces' second cousins and first cousins thrice removed.
I think.
All this without inbreeding.
Imagine if we were hillbillies?
Blimey.
It is the weekend of the younger sibling's birthday party, and indeed that of the youngest niece, too. Saturday will therefore be fraught both in the afternoon and in the evening. Happily, other than in aiding the delivery of la sprogette to her party, I don't have to be there. One six year old is fine. Two are cope-with-able. A room full appeals only to other six-year olds.
The evening, of course, is when the extended portions of family arrive; the aunts and uncles, the cousins and cousins-in-law, the first cousins once, twice and thrice removed (actually, I don't think that there are any of these latter yet, but I doubt it can be that far off).
Of course, explaining the intricacies of family structure to the rest of the clan is lost. As far as they are concerned, someone is either a cousin or a second cousin. So explaining to my elder niece that such and such is her second cousin once removed is a futile endeavour.
Still, I feel it is important that someone keep track of these niceties.
Nonetheless, it makes my brain ache trying to work some of them out. Take my Auntie Ma for example (someone should >shudder<). Theoretically she is my dad's cousin (first, second, third - who knows?), but because of circumstances back when they were kids, my Nan and Granddad adopted her. So legally, she's his sister and my aunt. Except that she's also my second cousin once removed. And her daughter is simultaneously my first cousin and second cousin twice removed. So her granddaughters are simultaneously my nieces' second cousins and first cousins thrice removed.
I think.
All this without inbreeding.
Imagine if we were hillbillies?
Blimey.