Family Get-togethers
Most New Zealanders try and take a short Christmas/New Year break (at home or away) between 25 December and 2 January. Visiting family members bring extra joy and, in my case, a virulent cold that turned to bronchitis from which I am still recovering.
During that period, I had the special experience of sharing my wife's Shaw Family Reunion. With two Devine brothers (one being me) having married two Shaw sisters, there is a particular Devine/Shaw bond.
Sadly, there are now only three out of seven second-generation Shaws still alive.
The reunion was held in a community centre/urban park in the original home of the second-generation Shaws, Palmerston North.
Not every member of the widespread extended family could be there but there was an impressive inter-generational turn-out – more people than I could meet and greet during the half-day event.
The north-bound traffic on 27 December was unexpectedly diabolical and it took 4 hours to make the usual two hour journey, so my wife and I (along with other Shaw/Devines from Wellington) were late arriving in Palmerston North.
On New Year’s Day we joined in a more impromptu Devine/Shaw picnic at Paekakariki Beach north of Wellington. A lovely way to spend more time with third and fourth generation family members in peaceful and green surroundings. Being ill, however, I never made it over the dunes to the beach.
There’s nothing like being in a big family that maintains its inter-generational bonds!
Long may it continue.
During that period, I had the special experience of sharing my wife's Shaw Family Reunion. With two Devine brothers (one being me) having married two Shaw sisters, there is a particular Devine/Shaw bond.
Sadly, there are now only three out of seven second-generation Shaws still alive.
The reunion was held in a community centre/urban park in the original home of the second-generation Shaws, Palmerston North.
Not every member of the widespread extended family could be there but there was an impressive inter-generational turn-out – more people than I could meet and greet during the half-day event.
The north-bound traffic on 27 December was unexpectedly diabolical and it took 4 hours to make the usual two hour journey, so my wife and I (along with other Shaw/Devines from Wellington) were late arriving in Palmerston North.
On New Year’s Day we joined in a more impromptu Devine/Shaw picnic at Paekakariki Beach north of Wellington. A lovely way to spend more time with third and fourth generation family members in peaceful and green surroundings. Being ill, however, I never made it over the dunes to the beach.
There’s nothing like being in a big family that maintains its inter-generational bonds!
Long may it continue.
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