question of the weekend: How do you define ‘family’?

With the holiday season now in full swing -- a holiday season defined by spending time with our families -- it’s time to ask an important question:

How do you define family?

When you think about “getting together with the family,” what does that mean to you? Is family limited to spouses, children, parents, and siblings? Is your family wider than that?

As a single person with no kids, I’ve invented my own family. (I’ve never understood people who say things like “You can’t pick your family” -- of course you can!) I have friends that I consider “family.” I have semicousins to whom I am not, strictly speaking, technically actually related to. I’m very selective about just whom I will take into my family fold, but I generally don’t see any reason to limit the definition of family to only those to whom I am connected by blood or marriage.