Rendon Family Reunion

Every other year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my dad's side of the family gets together for a family reunion. We've been able to attend the last two, since we've been in Texas, and they're a lot of fun. If you haven't had the chance to get together with a huge group of Mexicans (or any family of Latin descent, I imagine), who all grew up together, to eat, drink, laugh and dance, you don't know what you're missing!

I have to admit that I don't know most of the people there. I've heard all their names and at least a million stories about them, but other than my dad's immediate family, we mostly saw all of them at the occasional funeral or reunion. So, these gatherings for the kids and grandkids, are mostly about introducing ourselves, hearing stories about when we and our parents were younger, and getting re-acquainted with our family. It's always loud and a lot of fun.

We met at a banquet hall adjacent to softball fields to eat, play softball and kickball, have a pinata for the kids, take pictures, honor the elders, and dance. We divide ourselves into family units of each son or daughter of my great grandparents. So, my great grandparents start the family tree, then we identify with the son or daughter from which we descend. Our patriarch would be my dad's father, Marcelino (whom they called Chelo), but since he's no longer living, his eldest son, my dad, is now the elder of our family. He and his cousins lined up to each represent their family units and receive honors. We also took pictures in those groups. We had to leave early to get the kids to bed, so we missed the dancing, and I'm told we missed a lot. Garrett would have loved it, since he was out on the dance floor with cousins he doesn't even know before the DJ even got started. He was sad to leave and kept asking to go back to "the family reunion with my cousins". When your family reaches a certain size, everyone becomes your cousin. Scout had a good time tearing the table decorations down to decorate herself and toddling around. She got plenty of squeezing, kissing and cooing that night. Maybe the next time we go, we'll get to watch my parents and aunts and uncles cut a rug!

Scout "decorating" herself

Gathering some more table decorations

Garrett and a cousin

Garrett and Lito

The family elders (my dad Richard is second from the left)

Mommy and Scout

Garrett participating in the pull-string pinata for the littlest ones

My cousin Marcella, my sister Andrea and me

Lito stealing a kiss from Scout

Chelo Rendon's family

My dad's cousin Gilbert in the back, his cousin Manuel on the left, his cousin Aaron, his brother Bob, and my dad Richard

The Rendon Family

My Grandpa Chelo (he passed away when I was a baby)

A picture of the family elders at another Rendon reunion (my Grandpa Chelo on the far left)

My Grandpa Chelo, my grandma, whom we called Mo, and my dad Richard