Lori

I, too, see a distinction between families with extended families and those without., My children have always had birthday parties....although we have a blended family of six children, we have no extended family. One set of grandparents are 300 miles away, the other grandmother is 600...I am an only child and the dh has one brother who has chosen to be "child-free".

Our family traditions revolve around our own nuclear family and our family of choice rather than origin.

Lori