Hellobee Boards

Yes, my friends are just as close to me as my sisters. My sisters and I have a great relationship but not a whole lot in common. My best friends are the ones I call when I'm having a bad day, a fight with DH, or need to get a laugh in. If something funny/random/ect. happens I jump on the phone with a friend.

I will say I have 5 best friends (I'm blessed) and 3 of them have been since elementary school (my family considers them family too, it isn't unusually for them to pop up at Christmas to stop and say hi & have a drink) and the other two since HS/College. I stop in when I go home to my parents to my BFF's parents just to say hi and catch up.

My sisters have openly said how they are jealous of the relationships I have as they don't have close friends. So to answer your question my friends are JUST as close to me as family because I consider them that.

I'm super close to my family and only have a very small network of friends. My BFF is essentially family to me, and I treat her the same as I would any family member.

What about ILs? Do those count as family since I didn't grow up with them (I mean of course they do, but I mean in regards to this post :P)

I would say I am closest to my DH and his family.

For sure, I love my closest friends and treat them like family. I haven't lived by family since I was 18 so it's important to have great friends.

@LuLu Mom: I was going to type essentially the same exact thing! There are 6 of us girls who are close (hubs and kids are all friends now too) and my sister is really jealous of it but she and I took VERY different paths in life and have never been close.

I'm close with my family, definitely not the inlaws. I have trouble even calling them family after nearly a decade of bad history together. However, I don't hesitate to call my best friend and other close friends family. They've always had my back and mine their's.

Some of my friends I've known through Yelp actually have an orphan's Christmas gathering each year. One of my friends is estranged from her family and same with her husband, so they do the Christmas thing with friends. I usually miss these gatherings, but they always sound fun and drama free.