when siblings grow up

It shouldn't have come as such a shock. After all, my parents used to tell me my siblings would be my best friends one day. Yeah right! I'd think. Siblings aren't friends! Siblings are my annoying brothers who steal the first shower, embarrass me at school, and tattle on me for being irreverent during church.

But somehow, between all those years of fighting over our shared car and teasing each other about supposed crushes, something happened. We actually became friends. It's a little weird, and a lot wonderful.

Two of my brothers and my sister-in-law came for Thanksgiving break last week, and can I just say it was the most refreshing visit in the world? Guests are always tricky when you live in apartments, but since we had a relatively small number of visitors, it felt cozy instead of squished. We struck that tricky balance between relaxing at home and going out on adventures. And Claire was in heaven with all the attention she was getting.

This was my first year hosting Thanksgiving, which normally would have stressed me out endlessly. But, because it was just my siblings, it didn't stress me out at all. It was so low-key and wonderful. Taylor did the turkey. Ellie did the pies. And everything else was simplified and delicious. The only decoration was a homemade garland made of fall leaves Ellie brought from Utah. Actual fall leaves! Bless her heart. I was so happy.

When I moved to Phoenix, I made a goal to become better friends with my siblings. I'm pretty sure this is born of watching too many episodes of Parenthood while editing pictures late at night. But it's happening! Meghan and I FaceTime every week. John is great at calling me. Liz and Jason are great at calling and FaceTiming too, although I need to get better about initiating the calls themselves. (I fully understand that all these people FaceTime me solely to see my cute toddler. I am under no false pretenses about that. Still counts though! Forced Family FaceTime!) And we Skype with my family every Sunday night. 

At what point do your siblings start becoming your friends? Does this mean I'm old? Or just that I have awesome siblings? Have some of you been best friends with your siblings since day one? (I cannot fathom this, but I know it must exist somewhere.)

The bottom line is that this is my huge thank-you to all my siblings, those that came for Thanksgiving and those that couldn't make it. This article, and my wonderful Thanksgiving break visit, have me super excited to go home and spend time with my family in a few weeks. Bring it on, Christmas break!