Thursday, January 1, 2009

the brand extended family christmas

Every year the Brand family members who are in Fort Wayne (or near, like us Indy people) get together for a big Christmas celebration. This was the first year that Dan's sister, Jenny, hosted the grand event at her house and we did it on Sunday. (Thanks, Brands, for working around our work schedule all the time!) We had such a great time, as always!

The kids have their own gift exchange which they draw names for at Thanksgiving. When it was Sammi's turn to open her gift, the older kids helped her open a bag full of surprises from Audree! (She's the one holding onto Sam- thanks, Audree!) She loved her Dora phone, her pug dog with outfits, and her Dora mini MagnaDoodle!
It is great fun getting together with everyone! I think around 36 people were there this year!
The adults used to each make (or buy) gifts for every immediate family. Although it was so special to give and get so many thoughtful creations each year, our family has grown so much that it was getting hard to find the time and money to do that each year. So, last year we started doing a secret gift exchange (no one knows who brought what)...it's the whole deal where you can steal gifts and it gets crazy! We did the girls and guys separate this year and it was a lot of fun! 
After everyone else had left, our immediate family stuck around to hang out. Brad and Sam had a ball driving around in Brad's new ride together! 
It is so funny how good of friends these cousins are! They LOVE each other! Sam looks up to Brad and Brad takes care of Sam! So cute!!!
It was a very cold but beautiful day!
Jenny, thanks so much for inviting us all over for the day! What a great way to wrap up the Christmas celebrations! 

1 comment:

Mama J said...

Brrr it looks cold there! Love the pic of the two little ones in the cadillac! So cute! Miss you guys! xoxo