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…

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!

I have a few more things to craft up before all the official festivities begin, which will start for us on Christmas Eve. If you need a few last minute ideas, here are some easy ways to decorate for Christmas…

Easy tutorial to finger knitting here. Wool felt lights, I first made them long ago here. And felted bead balls is all we use to decorate our tree, just like last year. This year we just made more!

And of course, the sixth and final elf stocking has been made and is now hanging on the mantle…

All that is left on the Christmas decoration making agenda is a wreath and something pretty for our Christmas Eve dinner table. Tomorrow I will give a little tour of a happily decorated space, if I remember in this crazy, busy time. Though the big happening at our place tomorrow is the making of lots of homemade tamales for Christmas Eve. I am so excited about the menu! Ben has lots of good things up his sleeve. My dear family, get excited!!!

What things do you have left to do before the official festivities begin?

After painting the bows on Ben’s presents a week ago, I really liked the idea and let the girls go to town painting bows on some of the Christmas presents under the tree. It was a nice to let them get a bit involved in the whole wrapping present thing.

They started out painting bows, but then eventually went to painting their own pictures. Nevertheless, the result was cute and it was all them. That’s the best part. I just took pictures while they worked!

How do you do presents? I have heard of the “wear, read, want and need” present rule, but we haven’t tried that out. This year each of our girls get one present under the tree from Ben and me, a collective one from “Santa”, and some little stocking stuffers. Last year, Santa gave them a dollhouse and this year Santa is bringing them a record player with some vintage read along records. My friend Karen gave them a Mary Poppins record and they have wanted a player ever since. The present under the tree from us are just books for the big girls and little quilts for the little ones.

I think I am really liking the just one present from mom and dad, one from “Santa”, and little things in stockings. It keeps things kinda simple and I am all for simple. In fact, we just wanted to go to the dollar store to get them some puzzles for the present under the tree, but then I already had bought some books a couple years ago that I was saving special for them, so we are giving those instead. Them, or even us, getting presents isn’t what Christmas is all about anyways. I will admit I do have my own wish list and love getting presents, but I hate that Christmas can get so focused on that. The real meaning gets lost in the commercialism and the whole idea of wanting more things that we really don’t need.

This year Ben and I agreed that we would only give each other a handmade gift. We put a fun little twist to it, so this will be interesting. I haven’t made his yet, but I still have a few days for that and I think he is kinda stressed on mine.

From the gifts we did buy, if they weren’t books (or the record player) from Amazon, then they were probably handmade or vintage goodies. These are some of the shops that I did some of my shopping from: lofidelitylove, a merry mishap, papa’s good ole days, good knits, misha lulu, and paper coterie. And if you still need gifts, my fave line Misha Lulu is having a great deal over at mini social (go here).

I would love to hear how you handle Christmas giving with the little ones in your life. Any special rules you use to help guide the gift buying?

Totally love this new little camera trick that Annie tweeted about. See her step by step here. We decided our favorites were hearts. Warning… you will get addicted and the best part is that it is so easy! My girls love it so so much cause they get to see hearts everywhere! This little ones of mine are as girly as they get.

Learned and links…

– I think we have our Christmas Eve menu about ready. Now just have to prep!

– Photo books are great gifts, but they definitely take some time to make. I ordered mine from here.

– Obsessed with crocheting chunky scarves. Just made this one, I have a cranberry one in the works now.

– Four kids definitely leaves my house with all sorts of messy and it really stresses me out cause I am such a neat freak, but I am very slowly learning to let it go.

– My pastor tweeted this quote… “Failure is being successful at the things that don’t matter.” Author unknown. Then it made me think of this verse: Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?”

– My BFF and I officially go to the same church. Her and her hubs are now part of our church family at CrossView. Yay! That means we get to see each other every Sunday!

Monday is basically upon us, but I can’t wait for Wednesday evening! That means Ben is off until next Tuesday… huzzah!!!

on True: dress & shirt, misha lulu. tights, gap. clogs, c/o lotta from stockholm.

on Brave: dress, vintage from ms. tips. boots, siaomimi via gilt.

on Soul: dress, vintage. shoes, vintage.

I think True is a clog lover like me! As soon as she got these, she was wearing them all over. She says she is like mommy and gets to wear high heels! It is cute she thinks clogs are high heels and it is cute that she wants to be like me. I find all my girls are like that though. They like to watch me get dress and imitate things I do and wear. I remember doing that to my mom and wanting to put rollers in my hair and prancing around in her high heels all over the house. Oh, it is quite fun to be such a girly girl!

on me: shine your light dress, c/o modcloth. tights, anthropologie. clog boots, c/o lotta from stockholm.

If you have been following my particular obsessions these past few months, then you know they have been clogs and ankle boots. Then you can imagine my excitement when these came to me! Complete perfection. If you are skeptical of wooden sole shoes, I can attest to them being comfy. Somehow the arch of the sole mesh well with my feet and feel really good, which is an added bonus when it comes to shoes cause I know most of us girls will suffer for fashion. Aren’t I right?

This was us a few weeks ago, so my hair is still its natural dark color and Bravey and I were wearing gold dresses, so we declared ourselves twinsies! Actually, this was taken on Thanksgiving and the day before I changed it. We will be sure to all get dressed up again on Christmas and attempt to get another family picture in, since we didn’t really get one for Thanksgiving (except this).

This is the first year we are hosting Christmas at our house, so we are all sorts of excited! Ben is working on the menu and we are working on getting the house clean and decorated. We still have a long list of to-dos until we are ready, but we are slowly chopping away and come Saturday we will be ready for family, eating and lots of merry making!