Legacy

Do we all plan on leaving a legacy behind or does it happen naturally?? That is the question that has been on my mind all weekend.
The past weekend I had some great familytime with my 16-year old cousin Rachel and came to realize that my grandparents left us a wonderful legacy on the blessing of family. This legacy is one that most people would think of as an old world view but meant so much to us. It was a simple legacy really, it was a belief that family should celebrate together and spend time together.
It seems like that does not happen often. I remember growing up that my Mom's extended family would get together for every holiday: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July. We also would get together to celebrate birthdays, in particular there were 6 birthdays in the month of August and we would have one big party for all of us. Everyone came and because of that I had a very close bond with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. When my grandmother passed away in 2002 that all changed.
I went to a baby shower for my almost 20-year old cousin as he and his girlfriend are expecting at the begining of July and I could not get my 13- year old cousin to sit let alone talk to me. It was very depressing to see how things had changed so drastically. Instead of the close knit family I grew with we are like strangers who see each other once every couple of years. Not the legacy that I grew up with to say the least.
My question is how do we get back to that legacy or is it lost on the young ones and only the older children that remember see it.
I also spent this past weekend going through boxes of my Mom's pictures that span from 1980-1996 going through them made me see all of happy times. I also saw my grandparents care-free and young. My aunts and uncles through various times in their lives such as the high school graduations and weddings. I saw myself and the animals we always had around and also as the consumate babysitter for everyone. There were so many pictures of me with children it was mind boggling.
It is the legacy of family that I miss and wonder if others see a legacy they grew up with or if they are building their own legacy.