Formal Dinner 2008

We need to set a date for the formal dinner party! The possibilities are: November 14, 15, 21, 22 or another day that works for everyone. I would prefer not to have it on the last weekend of November, but I'm flexible.

This sounds a lot more complex than it actually is...

The kids briefly discussed changing how we give gifts at Christmas because some of us are a bit tighter financially this year and would like to be able to stay within our Christmas budgets. However, we’d also still like to have the joy of giving gifts to each other!!! So, we talked about figuring out a way to draw names that allows us to give as much as possible to others while also not putting too much financial burden on families with more people.

Everything I’ve done here is per family (as opposed to per individual) because although we usually receive gifts as individuals, we usually give by family. For example, the V&A Braun family would give a gift to Amanda (V&A wouldn’t usually each give gifts to Amanda separately).

So, without further ado.... With the new drawing names plan we’ll have to agree whether each family will give 6 gifts, 7 gifts, or 9 gifts. And the new plan will have each family still giving something to Mom, Dad, and Grandma. The kids and kids’-kids will all put our names in the draw and give gifts to each other that way. (Just so you can compare, historically, we’ve given 11-13 gifts per family.) Also, if you see something that’s a perfect gift for someone who’s name you haven’t drawn, you can still get that person that gift.

For those of you who like to see how the numbers work out...
(There are 12 kids and kids’-kids in total)

Each family giving 6 gifts means:
- each person puts their name in once
- each family draws 3 names
- each family gives to Mom, Dad, & Grandma

Each family giving 7 gifts means:
- each adult puts their name in once, each child (Josh, Triston, Anemone, Nadia) puts their name in twice
- each family draws 4 names
- each family gives to Mom, Dad, & Grandma

Each family giving 9 gifts means:
- each person puts their name in twice
- each family draws 6 names
- each family gives to Mom, Dad, & Grandma

(I’ve also come up with a way to draw names that should eliminate the problem of getting a name of someone in your own family, but I don’t need to explain that here.)

So, what are your thoughts? Feel free to flood me with questions, I know this is not as clear as it needs to be yet. We’ll need to decide how many gifts we’d like to give per family as well.

Thanksgiving 2008

Everyone is probably wondering about the schedule for our Thanksgiving supper tomorrow. Since Vince is playing football at 11, we will be having supper later, possibly around 5:30. We will be taking family pictures at about 4, so come prepared for some casual pics outside.

Moving Day?

Just a quick question.... Jason and Susan, I was wondering if you want help moving tomorrow? If so, where would you like us to meet and when? Is anyone else available or planning to help?

Family pictures