I don't think I've ever met anyone in this situation, so I'm kinda curious what this is like. The concept of absolutely no aunt/uncles or first cousins seems so foreign to me.

Do you generally stay home for all major holidays, and parents and grandparents come to you? (If they're still around.)

Or have you joined family of friends along the way?

Or maybe stick solely to your spouse's family if they have any.

Any contact with your super-extended family? (Great aunts/uncles, second cousins?)

I come from a very large family on both parents' sides, so this is something I wonder about.

Always wished I were an only child, but I can't think of anyone like that in my extended family that I know of. Breeding seemed to be something of a contest among our ilk. Although the younger ones in our respective immediate families seem slightly less interested in continuing the trend.

I'm not exactly what you're looking for but I am pretty close.

I'm the only surviving child of my parents. Mom was an only child and Dad had one sister who had no children but did marry a few times. I have no blood first cousins. However, I do have 3 different types of step-first cousins, if that is a thing.

Most childhood holidays in my memory were spent with my parents and my mom's father and his new wife. Mom's mother died when I was very young. Very rarely, my Dad's mother would visit or we would visit her but all holidays would include a phone call to her and usually to my aunt. Dad's dad died when I was very young as well but Grandma never remarried.

I made it a point to be with my parents for every holiday as a teenager, college student, and young adult. This became more important after my mom died. Once my father met his new wife, my husband and kids and I were not invited to his new family's holiday get togethers.

My in-laws are numerous and fun, so I stick with them.

I have had maybe three visits with my paternal extended blood family in 50 years. All when I was less than 7 years old. I've never had contact with my maternal extended blood family. I've had a total of 10 visits with anybody from two of the sets of step-family in my life. My husband and our kids have never met them. My father and his new wife have made sure that we aren't allowed to be at family gatherings with his new family, so we've only seen them maybe 20 times total?

Enjoy your large family. And don't miss a chance to tell them that you love them.

Thanks for sharing.

I am not in the situation the OP describes, but all the mentions of holidays and such made me think of my childhood. All my grandparents were dead long before I was around. Well, my maternal grandfather lived until I was three or four but he had disowned my mom 40 something years prior. Because of that, our Christmases were so different from all my friends. They would do some stuff with one set of grandparents on Christmas Eve, immediate family stuff Christmas morning, then often off to the other grandparents later Christmas Day.

We had just ourselves so had no traveling. Though I was jealous of other kids getting stuff from grandparents, and when they would go spend time with them throughout the year, I was ok with not having the hustle and bustle of it all.

I did have many, many cousins. In my 30s, we used to have cousin reunions each summer. I really wish we had kept that going. We stopped and I regret I didn't make the effort to make it continue.

There are millions of people like you in China.

My Father was an only child. My Mom is 16 and 18 years older than her brothers. It is only my sister and I and we were a Military family, so we moved around a lot. So, it has only been us four growing up, but we really enjoy each other. We all live in the same town now. My sister has two daughters and I have a daughter and a son, so as our family has grown, we are getting bigger and our kids are enjoying their Grandparents and their cousins.

Growing up if we were able to visit Grandparents during leave (usually Christmas), we usually visited one or the other. I have fond memories of those visits. So, I don't know any difference of having a small family.

PS. I am closer in age to my uncles than my Mom is to her brothers.... Key the Banjo music...

a guy I know is an only child of only children parents. his dad is in rough shape and it really takes a toll not having anyone else to help out.

I don't fit the query, but definitely a small family. I am an only child, each of my parents had a single sibling and both of them also had only one child.

Didn't carry on to the next generation, though. My ex-wife was one of five, and even though the family wasn't Catholic, all her siblings somehow married Catholics and bred like rabbits. We also had three kids, so anyway, lots of cousins.

My husband is an only child, both of his parents were only children, and they're both deceased. So my family (and his kids, of course) are the only family he has.

I know that he loves my family very much and is very appreciative of their love and acceptance. They love him just as much as any blood relative; however, sometimes it causes a tiny bit of strain. He doesn't understand why I want to stay a few days longer at Christmas, for example. Or why I will make day trips to Longview or Houston just to celebrate a birthday. Or why I insist on having extra space for family to come visit and have a place to stay.

Even before my sister died but especially after she died...there is just nothing I love more than being with family.

Makes me sad for your husband.

My mom's the only child of two only children. My dad was one of nine. So to sort of balanced out although not really close with my dads side.

We did almost all holidays at my maternal grandmothers house. My grandpa died when my grandmother was still really strong and independent. My grandmothers death and last year was very hard on my mother since she had no siblings. But we (my siblings and I) were all adults and helped my mom and dad. My two siblings don't have kids so my family tree is very narrow.

Funny enough I had a friend my college and we found out that we were actually cousins on my mom side (same great great grand mother). He's the only cousin I have ever met from my mom's side.

My dad was treated like a son by his inlaws, so that helped things a lot. They had a wonderful relationship.

My grandmother did sort of "adopt" friends and made a couple of holidays (like Easter and 3 days before Christmas) adopted family holidays. We regularly had 20-30 people at her house for those holidays with the same people every year. Those kids were essentially cousins to me.

The point of all of this is that you haven't been given family, but you can make family with people as well. It's about relations and consistency and being there for people in hard times and good times. It's about setting time for people every year. Find people you want to invest in and make time each year to gather. Best of luck to you.

I am an only child and my mom is an only child technically because her parents divorced in the 1940s and both remarried.

So she has two other families but no real "nucleus." She is close to her dad's family but not her mom's.

My dad has a brother and sister but the brother never had kids. I have not talked to his sister's kids in 20 years. I am the only grandkid who had children so my kids are the end of my grandparents' bloodline which goes back to the mayflower (my great-uncle had 5 kids with many grandkids so the family line continues)

So not exactly as OP described, but growing up it was just us three my whole little life. My dad passed a couple years ago so now it is just my mom. I am glad she still has her half-sister and one close cousin left or it would just be me.

Literally no, but I was raised as if I were the only child hailing from two only children. My mother has a brother with no children but she died when I was 6 so the uncle was not in my life until I was an adult. Same for my half sister who was disowned by our father.

Childhood was tenuous. I'll come back and share more.

I am an only child. My mother is an only child. Her father was an only child. We are all fine.

My wife's parents were each married 3 times. My wife's family is a train wreck.

We only had one child.

Biologically, yes. Both of my grandmothers had medical issues that kept them from having a second child. And then my parents got divorced when I was a toddler.

I have two older stepsisters, though.