Happy Cousins Day

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Happy Cousins Day from the HolidayChicks.com.  National Cousins day happens every year on July 24th.  It’s a great day to celebrate your extended family.    I love my cousins- they were the sisters I never had.  I came from a small family, just me and my brother. My cousins are awesome and we spent so much time together as children. My mom was close with her siblings, so we spent holidays, birthdays, vacations and many weekends just hanging out- all the aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents together.  
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My cousins were my first best-friends and best-enemies.  We fought and made up, hugged, cried and loved each other so much.  Still do!!!!
 
My teenage cousins didn’t want to have too much to do with us younger kids.  Sometimes they would hang out in MY bedroom when visiting.  When we tried to barge in, we got the door slammed in our faces.  MY DOOR-MY BEDROOM!  How dare they!!! But we slunk away with our tails between our legs.  There was no tangling with a couple of pubescent teenagers talking about boys and important teenage things.  I think we were wise to scram. 

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​I learned so much from them.  Madeline, Sharon, Patricia, Katie and later, Maureen.  All girls!  That was very exciting for me, not so much for my brother.  But we included him anyway.
Our favorite things to do were swimming, Barbie Dolls, making puppet shows, dancing and singing along to records.  We played “Que Sera, Sera” by Doris Day a lot. We loved “The Sound Of Music” and Dark Shadows.  We loved setting the basement up as a restaurant with little card tables.  I was the waitress and Patricia was the manager.  We would make my brother Gene and Katie the customers. We called it Candlestick Diner. It was a magical time and a delightful way to grow up.   Then on Fri the 13th, 1972, my little baby cousin Maureen was born. It was sooooooo exciting.  A baby, a new cousin.   I was enthralled- plus my baby doll would get all Maureen’s hand me downs.  
 Cousin relationships are special- treasure them!

Simple ways to Celebrate…
Call your cousins on the phone or chat on social media.  Plan a Zoom call and get the gang involved. I recently started a private FB page for my cousins- I’m going to share this with a bunch of pictures to tell them how much I love and appreciate them.
 
Watch some quirky cousin movies or old tv shows.
The Patty Duke Show
Fresh Prince of Belaire
My Cousin Vinny
 
Some famous Cousins…
Singers, Whitney Huston and Dionne Warwick
Singers, Snoop Dogg and Brandy
Actors Sissy Spacek and Rip Torn
Actress Lauren Bacall and Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres
 
So Happy Cousins Day from the HolidayChicks.com! Get in touch with your cousins and ask those important family questions while you can. You will be so glad you did.

​This Blog Post is dedicated to My cousin Frances Ericksen. (middle) She passed away recently from Covid-19.  I had not seen her in 2 years, just quick phone calls.  It’s funny- I think of questions I would like to ask her all the time now. 
I love you Frances! I miss your laugh.   
​-Monika