Enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving

A Note to The Family

After our gathering this past September, something stayed with me, the spark that set everything in motion. It started when Crystal shared a beautiful inspiration that came to her, and I have held onto that moment ever since. It reminded me that we are not just a family with memories. We are a family still learning how to hold each other through both the joy and the weight of life.

Losing family members over the years has never been easy. Loss is always hard, but this past year has felt extra challenging. When a wave of loss comes suddenly, it takes the breath out of you. It changes how we see our own life and the lives around us. As we move forward with loss, we feel it more clearly. We see how fragile our existence is. We feel how close we are to not only experiencing loss, but becoming the loss someone else has to carry.

This kind of awareness does not come to frighten us. It comes to awaken something in us. It comes to soften us toward each other. It comes to remind us that the time we have is not guaranteed, and the people we love are not guaranteed either. All we can do is love each other, speak encouraging truth to our own hearts, and cherish the moments we still get to share.

I am thankful for each one of you. I am thankful for this family and for the way we show up even when life feels heavy. Crystal’s inspiration was a reminder, not of what we have lost, but of what we still have, and how important it is to honor it while we can, in whatever ways we can.

So, on behalf of this year's planning committee, Crystal, Eva, Andrea, Stacy, Eric, John, Aubrey, and yours truly, I want to acknowledge each of you, whether you were present or there in spirit, for coming together to bring Crystal’s family vision to life.

NOW WHAT

Good question. Now is the time to expand and strengthen our planning committee.

We are not fully represented. Yes, our current team is committed for this coming year's Family & Friends gathering event, but we want you too! We are looking for the branches of the family who need to be part of this work, because this gathering belongs to all of us. And you participation in the planning is very much needed. Will you join us?

So here is how I will know you read this. Uncle Newman, or should I say Uncle FUN, has a clever way of checking if you did.  

Get your thumbs ready and text "ME TOO" to Uncle Fun at (909) 556-8893. It really is that simple.

Q/A Questions

Q: Are you recruiting extra members to join the existing planning committee for the 2026 Family & Friends Gathering in honor of the Rev. & Mrs. T.G. Millhollon Family Tree?

A: YES WE ARE!

TEXT "ME TOO" @ (909) 556-8893 to join the planning committee and receive your special assignment opportunity! This is a family of doers.

October & November Babies!

Why do I love this picture of Daddy, Suandra, and Mother?

I love this picture because it is a glimpse into the beginning of a new family tree. They are why we have the opportunity to connect as family. They are why I exist, and why I became an uncle. They are the full reason, or the half reason, why we are all connected.

Did you know Daddy’s dad kicked him out when he was nine years old, and that he learned how to fend for himself with the help and generosity of others? Did you know Mother came from a family of hard-working ranch hands, and that her mother’s sister married her father’s brother, two brothers marrying two sisters? That is why we have double cousins. Did you know that even in a stable family, by the third generation, connections begin to fade?

Everything in our lives is built on something that already exists or has not yet taken shape. When we stay unaware of our foundation, we disconnect from the flow of life that has been moving long before we arrived.

How we learn our history, how we receive it, and how we pass it down is what strengthens the generations that follow. It gives them context, clarity, and a sense of belonging. Without that understanding, we miss the very roots that could have anchored us and guided us toward something better.

Joke Of The Day

Why did the Millhollon Family bring a ladder to the barbeque?

Because they heard the steaks were high!

Special Family Photo- Just Uncle Newman as Boy George

UNCLE FUN FACTS

1. If I ask you to do something and you say yes, I expect you to do it.

2. If you say to me that you are on your way and you are still at home brushing your hair, I will know. My spiritual gift is discernment and location awareness.

3. If you ask me a simple question you will probably get a deep answer you were not ready for. That is your fault for asking a philosopher.

4. If you say you read this whole letter but didn't text "ME TOO," you will be caught. I am old, not confused.

5. If you think you can out joke me, out love me, or out talk me, bless your heart. I invented this job title. That is why they call me Uncle Fun.

BONUS UNCLE FUN FACT

If I hurt your feelings, go sit in the corner and cry. When you are done, I will hand you the broom and ask you to sweep up. Healing and chores can happen at the same time.

WHAT U TALK'N BOUT?

Personal Growth Awareness: When I talk about ignorance, I’m not talking about intelligence, worth, or character. I’m talking about capacity and willingness. Ignorance is often not a flaw, it is a crossroads. We get to choose!

A Thought on Ignorance, Capacity, and Family

When I talk about ignorance, I’m not referring to people who genuinely cannot learn something. Plus, there are many reasons someone may not have the capacity in a given season. Life, trauma, overwhelm, or limited emotional bandwidth can get in the way, and I hold deep compassion for that.

The kind of ignorance that concerns me is different. It is the kind that comes from capability but not willingness, the kind that shows up when someone chooses not to know, not to engage, and not to learn what is right in front of them.

This matters to me because family connection depends on participation. When we come together for something like a family gathering, a reunion, or even a simple newsletter, it does not sustain itself by magic. It takes involvement, curiosity, and a willingness to know our own people.

Our stories matter. Where we come from matters. The way we arrived here matters.

So when someone has the capacity and still chooses not to care, not to show up, not to learn about their own roots, it stirs something in me. I find myself asking, “Why would you not want to know the people who shaped your existence?”

But I also know that frustration rarely opens anyone’s heart. So instead of “What’s wrong with you,” a better question is, “What might help you feel invited into this, not pushed?”

Because family grows when we choose connection. It shrinks when we treat belonging as optional.

And for those who cannot make that choice right now, compassion remains. For those who can and still will not, clarity remains too.

Ignorance is not always a failure. Sometimes it is simply an unopened door. And sometimes, we have to gently knock until someone is ready to open it.

Have Questions? Let me know.

Text Uncle FUN @ 909-556-8893

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