An Arends kind of Christmas!

When the decree to assemble for the annual Arends Christmas party comes, the members gather from all corners of the midwest to attend. The rules are simple: eat, drink, eat, be very loud, eat, bring a white elephant gift, eat, smile for the camera, eat, watch out for scary Santa ( he was actually sober this year!), eat, play the fun games Amy makes up, eat, laugh, hug, kiss, and always be soooooo thankful for what a blessing it is that we have this awesome family. Thanks to our host and hostess Greg and Deidra and following are a cast of characters: Here is Katie modeling her white elephant gift: you never know what lies beneath those pretty wrappings!

I not only recieved one, but two of these! I almost peed my pants I was so happy...Don't worry, they will reappear next year, just as they did this year.

We had many more little girls this year anxiously awaiting scary Santa...(George did a great job this year as Santa...Thanks!)

The only boy cousin this year was Andrew, Bill and Laura's new addition. He's a cutie!

Here's Mom with Vicky and George (not the Santa George) and Megan

Amy and Eric the little love birds...could Santa be bringing a ring this year? Just a suggestion Eric!

My baby brother Rick and his lovely wife Jan who traversed the snow all the way from the northern reaches of Wisconsin, then drove home Sunday in a blizzard! Thankfully all arrived safely.

My big brother Phil with little Mommo. She's looking stylin' as always!

I do have some video that will show the loud part of the rules but I'll post that tomorrow. Don't want too much of a good thing. After watching them I can't believe we really heard anything anyone said to us. No wonder we all kept smiling all night. Oh, did I mention the word eat? Starting Jan. 1st we're having something called "the Arends biggest loser" contest. It will be a seperate blog with instructions, rules, (of course) and best of all pics as we all get healthy for 2009!