Meeting the Family

Good morning lovelies! 

Today, as I woke to find that my puppy had snuck into my bed, hogged the comforter, and pushed my head off the pillow in favor of his own, I couldn't help but think it would be a great day. 

Last night was the first snow, here in michigan, which I celebrated by dressing up and adventuring out on a wonderful date with an equally wonderful man. We got to talking about the holidays. This led to him inviting me to spend thanksgiving with his [extended] family. 

For a little backstory, my relationship with Mr. Right has been quite an adventure. We are both a little crazy, and a lot of fun, tending toward the side of adventure when it comes to... well, life. We've dated three years, and in this time he has spends nearly every holiday with my family and me, as we're in town and his family is spread around the country and beyond. I've spent holidays with his parents, but have never attended a "family gathering" with his extended aunts and uncles and all family. 

So my question to you is... what to do?

I'll be attending the event, but seeing as I don't know anyone, or the culture of the family, and it is out of town, how would you go about finding out the what to do's?

Examples: 

-What do you wear? Assuming, as is the case, he has not even hinted at the culture of his family gatherings (formal vs. informal) even under direct questioning. (He did mention "They're not like yours" which I took to be a good thing)

-How do you choose a hostess gift that's not too generic, not to personal, but lovely?

-And lastly, to ad another layer, one family member will be celebrating one of those "monumental" birthdays while at the gathering, gift or no gift?

I've always been great with families, an pretty successful hostess myself, and a generally social butterfly, but he makes me nervous... in the cute, huge smile when you think of him, kinda mushy makes other people disgusted kinda way. 

Just for a little perspective, this is [part of] my family

So now that you know the story, stop by. I'll be updating on my quest to master the holidays with some resemblance of success.