In most cases traditionally one of the brothers/sisters moves away from the hometown and one stays behind.
Usually for university, jobs or a relationship.
When I was a kid my parents made sure that we went to visit our family for birthdays etc. . Everyone would also visit grandma even though she was a truely evil person so you'd meet there.
But at some point the kids move out and everyone sort of has their own life and our family at least from my dad's side has never been close and my mom broke off most ties with her family except for 1 sister.
I have a bunch of cousins/nieces but there's quite an age gap with some of them. (I'm 31, my oldest cousin is nearing 50. Out of this "generation" I'm the youngest.).
Uncle (fathers side - divorced - regular contact)
- 2 cousins (1 married moved to Germany recently got 1 kid. He's a genius he designs production processes for microchip factories. The other is a STREET KID and his dad hates him, haven't seen them in 5 - 10 years(?))
Aunt (fathers side - deceased)
- 2 nieces (twins - see them at least once a year but now that their father(my uncle) is on his last legs more often, both have 4 kids each)
- 1 cousin (oldest cousin, never visit but see him around town from time to time, he has 1 child from a previous marriage)
Aunt (moms side - divorced - her kids aren't on speaking terms anymore)
- 2 cousins (haven't seen them in over a decade, maybe 15(?) years now, I know that they both have kids)
Aunt (my mom ended all contact with this sister even before I was born but we would sometimes run into her kids around town)
- 2 nieces (haven't seen them in at least 2 decades)
Uncle (my mom ended all contact with this brother even before I was born, has Korsakoff)
- 1 niece/cousin(?) (allegedly had a kid? I've never seen this man in my life)
When my aunt drank herself to death(and she became the family gathering spot after evil grandma died) about 10 years ago me and my brother decided to host a family dinner.
We invited everyone that we were on speaking terms with and had a good time. Afterwards the twins said they would organize the next one but they never did.
We had other gatherings where some people would show up but never everyone. Because we rarely see eachother family gatherings are often very awkward.
Things like, you don't know the names of their kids or what their profession is/was. You sort of have a vague idea because you see these people once a year max.
My brother and me also kinda soured on our family after no one really showed any interest when my mom was in a really bad spot and treated at a mental facility.
Because it took her a long time to recover (and she will probably never fully recover) most people just lost 'interest' 2 or 4 weeks into the process and they all bailed when they realized how difficult it was.
I kinda understand that, but it's hard to explain to a depressed person why she suddenly doesn't get any visits, calls, letters or postcards anymore.
