OUR MOST FAVORITE THING OF 2011

Our most favorite thing of 2011 is having this little girl added to our family. We all absolutely, positively love her!

Enjoy ringing in the New Year wherever you are!!! 2012, here we come!!!

BRATCHER DANCE PARTY

New Year's Eve of 2008 started the first Bratcher dance party, also known as Club Bratcher. We all get dressed up as silly as possible, have a nice little dinner involving some black eyed peas, then we put on some Black Eyed Peas, along with some other bumpin' music, and dance our hearts out. We even have a strobe light for the occasion.

This tradition has been a favorite of ours since we started and we only had two kids, though I will admit it didn't happen last year because Ben and I had a fight. Yup. Those things happen to us too, but this year it is on again for sure and now we have four kids... yay! We still have to figure out what is on the menu for the night, but you can be sure we will all be ready to party come New Years Eve! We are so excited! How do you plan to ring in the New Year?

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas morning the girls were anxious to go downstairs to see if Santa had come. True had left him an apple and some cookies the night before, so she wanted to see if he ate them. Indeed, he had and had also left some nicely wrapped packages beside his empty plate (the open presents on the left are from Christmas Eve).

Here are my four girls, smiling together, well as best as I could get them all to at the same time. They are happily clutching some of the toys they got from their Grammy and Grumpy. The Minnie in True's arms were for Soul, but she doesn't liked stuffed animals and freaked out, so True claimed her for her own. The Monchichi Soul's holding is Brave's ultimate favorite toy she got a couple birthdays ago and Brave is holding True's Jesse doll she got from my parents the night before. My kids are a little mixed up on whose toy is whose, but maybe they are just really good at sharing!

For stocking stuffers, True got a headband, Brave a 2-d puzzle, and Soul and Glow got little dolls. We also added some of their favorite snacks in the stocking, even Ben got some special snacks too!

Santa brought them a record player and some read along vintage record sets that Santa got here. They were super duper excited about getting to play their read along records, especially their Sound of Music one their Auntie RJ gifted the night before. My girls are big fans of Rodgers & Hammerstein. The morning was spent listening to some records then hurriedly dressing and leaving the house to gather with our church family.

After spending time being reminded about Christ's kingship and how that relates to the traditional Christmas songs we sing about his rule, we came home to relax, play, and finish opening presents under the tree. Ben and I gifted the big girls each with a Moomin book to add to their collection and Soul got a vintage quilt for when she moves out of her crib. I am so glad we go simple with the amount of gifts we give them cause too many presents means more stuff and more stuff means more messes. We really don't need more messes around this place! The rest of the afternoon was spent with the big girls watching movies big screen style on the wall, while the babies slept, and Ben and I cuddled.

These dolls are one of my very favorite toys the girls have. We have a nice little collection. We have had the one on the very left for years, and the two little ones were in Soul and Glow's stocking this year (the white one is vintage), and my parents gave Soul the big one on Christmas Eve. They are not very many toys Soul likes and these dolls are one of the few that she does actually like. Though, when she first took out that big one, she was a bit frightened because she isn't quite used to seeing them so large. I love these dollies so much because their adorable little faces are too sweet! Just like my girls. BTW- I purchased one extra little one, so if you are interested in purchasing it from me, email me for details.

Christmas evening, we went to my aunt's and spent the rest of the day eating more yummy food and playing fun games with my family. I love that my girls know it is Jesus' birthday that we celebrate and I especially love being with my family on this very special holiday. The day was obviously very merry and very bright!

CHRISTMAS EVE

This is the first time we hosted any type of holiday celebration at our house and we were all sorts of nervously excited for it. My family always gets together for Christmas Eve and we wanted to start some of our own traditions too, so we tapped into Ben's Mexican heritage (he's half Mexican and half Caucasian for those of you who wonder) and decided to make homemade tamales.

We made two kinds: Oaxaca Chicken Breast and Black Mole Tamales and a Red Chile and Pork Tamale (recipes from this book). Of course, we made the masa part without lard (recipe from this book), so it was especially fun to make healthy tamales. All I have to say is that tamale making is hard work! We spent most of Friday all the way up to midnight prepping the meats and the sauce (mole takes forever to make!) and Saturday morning was spent wrapping tamales. The girls got into the action and we had fun wrapping together as a family. There was also Ensalada de Noche Buena, Ceviche (my request), and Mexican Chocolate cake and all was made fresh and yummy by my mama.

It was a wonderful dinner and after Ben read an interactive story called What God Wants for Christmas and had different people read parts of the Bible aloud. After which, we made fresh Hot Mexican Chocolate and indulged in cake eating while my brother played some Christmas music and we all sang together. We even sang Happy Birthday to Jesus! It was really nice to be together and reflect on what the real meaning of Christmas is. Then, we made our way to the tree and had fun opening presents.

My girls are always way too spoiled by their grandparents, but my parents are getting better at understanding what we allow our girls to have. We don't want to saturate them with too much and we know grandparents like to spoil, so finding a happy medium is key. My parents are also good sports because I still give them my own Christmas wish list! Presents are fun, but my favorite part of the evening was being able to serve my family at our house. My mom always works so hard during the holidays to make it special for us that we were glad we were able to let her relax a bit and host the party at our house. Families, especially big ones, definitely come with their own sets of trials on occasion, but they also come with a lot of joy and happiness.

Christmas Day happies coming up next...

OUR HOME FOR CHRISTMAS

Lots of handmade things and pretty twinkly lights is all this family needs to have a happy space for Christmas. My favorite part is our mantel with our homemade elf stockings. Love the quirkiness! This is where we will be celebrating and cozying up all weekend long.

Merry Christmas Eve!!! My family will be here soon, so it is back into the kitchen I go!