ensconced with family

[gimhee]

Our 4-year-old biological son, Ryan, and our 3-year-old foster son, BlueJay, were happily ensconced with family for the afternoon. It was only the second time Mike and I had been truly alone since we welcomed BlueJay into our home four months ago.


here in the sentence, family is used without a, the , my, etc...

So, I'm wondering who 'family' refers to.

Is it general way to refer to relatives?

thanks in advance~!

http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/...not-to-ask-what-will-we-do-if-he-leaves/?_r=0

 

[bennymix]

It's a bit vague, but yes, relatives, the grandparent, aunts, uncles --hard to say.
'the family' would not really make it any clearer.

 

[e2efour]

I can only imagine it means safe in the hands of e.g. grandparents or other relatives.

Do you have family living there? would mean any relatives.