2012 Bennett Family Reunion/Crazy Family Get-together!

     I'm not like most people.... or maybe I am, but I LOVE my family, not only that, but I LOVE my in-laws! I love spending time with my family! Especially when we all get together as one big group! The fact that you never know what might happen when we're all together is just one of the reasons I love being with my family. This holiday season we got to so many family members, it was so great! Even better, many of them ended up surprising us, which made things even more fun!

Christmas Eve
     My aunt and uncle came up from Riverside and surprised us in Kernville for our Christmas Eve service. My mom and step-dad also came up to join them. I sorta figured this one out a few hours before though, which was okay,  since I was able to prepare by throwing something together in the crock-pot, and clean the house. They had never really heard me sing before, let alone lead the church, nor had they heard Grant preach before, so it was really neat that they were able to come up. After the service we all came back to our house for some beef stew. We talked, laughed, and watched Abby/Nomi open Abby's first presents!

Christmas Day

     The day had finally come for Abby to wear her Christmas dress. I bought this dress before she was even born. I saw it on sale, and I thought, I better get it now while on sale than wait and try to find something later. Grant totally didn't understand, men! But I'm sure he appreciated not having to buy a dress for her at Christmas time though! Abby was not in the best mood when we got home. 

Christmas with our Family

     On Monday we were able to go down and spend some time with Grant's family at the big reunion party. We were not expecting any cousins to be able to come at all, but, unexpectedly, they were all able to come at the last minute and we so enjoyed spending time with them all! Abby of course was such a hit, everyone played with her and held her to her hearts content! 

     The party was something that we had been planning for some months. We had a gingerbread house contest which turned out to be such a hit! Everyone had much fun planning their houses out ahead of time, and then finally executing them with each other. The grandma's got together and presented prizes to each house; we had cute little cottage houses, hobbit houses, and so much more. It was definitely a sight to see and watch. 

     Then we had a delicious lunch/dinner of tri-tip that our friends, the Harkleroad's, catered for us. The rest of us were to each bring a side dish, apparently we all got the same memo... potatoes. Everyone brought some type of potato dish. What are the odds? It was pretty hilarious. Potatoes four-ways. They were all delicious, and gave us quite a laugh.

     We also spent some time opening the rest of everyone's Christmas presents, so Abby got another chance to work on her present-opening skills!

    We had such a wonderful time with all of our family, and we are very grateful that we were able to see all the aunts, uncles, and cousins that we were surprised by! Thank you for making our Christmas season so wonderful! We love you all!