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……………..My mother comes from a family of NINE brothers and sisters. They are all present in this picture….except one……my Uncle Tom……From left to right……My Aunt Angie…….my Aunt Millie…..My mother who was named Lorita, but everyone called her Edith…..my Grandfather John Rutigliano,….my Uncle Paul…..my Grandmother …..my Uncle Vito….my Aunt Mary,….my Uncle Lou……and the baby, and tallest of them all……my Uncle Danny…….They all had two to three children except my Uncle Danny who married an older woman, and they didn’t have any children……..I’m guessing after being brought up in a house with so many they all decided to keep the amount of children they would have to a minimum! Only my Uncle Vito beat his dad, and had 12 children! I remember as a child all of us getting together in the basement of my either my dad’s parents house or my mother’s parents house in Brooklyn for the Holidays…..All the women cooking, and all the men playing cards…..and all the kids running wild! Sometimes we would split the time between both families. My grandparent lived around the corner from one another so it was easy to spend time with both families…..Some times just the kids would go from house to house visiting with our cousins!….It was the best of times…..When my grandparents died that all ended……The get togethers were much smaller, and basically everyone stayed home with their families. My mother used to invite some of her siblings over, but it was never the same…….When my brothers and I got older we rarely went into Brooklyn anymore……..It was sad to loose touch. Their children would never have the experiences we did growing up……Times have changed so drastically, and family ties aren’t what they used to be……though some still try to keep some of the traditions going.