[LisaCA]

much to my horror, this will not be my problem. I married the favorite son, and now that we have the only girl in the family, they'll be here more often than not . That aside, I'll tell you a bit about my experience. My mom's family (and the entire tribe) live back east, 3000 miles from where I grew up, (or in my uncle's case, spain) so we did not see them often. what worked for us was that my aunt and grandma (and others) mailed packages addressed just to us kids, filled with stuff. This was not stuff that they bought necessarily, but stuff they wanted us to have: blankets they made, clothing, puzzles, books, etc. we loved the packages, even if some of the stuff was "questionable". Just the idea that a package came addressed to us was cool. We also spoke to grandma and aunt each week. My aunt came out often (roughly once a year) because she was single and working, and since we were in Southern CA it was a great vacation. I also traveled back to see her and she took me on trips with her (including an awesome trip to
europe).

anyway, we made pictures for her, cards, etc for every occasion, and helped to put together packages for her and grandma.

I know my mom's side of the family much better than my dads, mostly because of this. I loved it and so did my family. My aunt passed away about a year ago, and when I went thru her house, she saved all those things we made (including a lovely tissue paper tree I made in kindergarten ). She was my favorite aunt and i named dd after her. since today you can use webcams and all sorts of things (including unlimited long distance-that's what we have), you can build a great relationship with those living far away.

good luck!

LisaCA