This has one of my favorite themes found in books. The making of a family. A big rag-tag group of friends that are much more like kin than a casual presence in eachother's lives. I hung on as long as I did to the Anita Blake series because of this same feature. In every book, she'd bring home a new member to join the clan and I find that very appealing. 
 Sam is doing the same in his big magical mansion.