this christmas

Only ONE more day of school left before Christmas break!! I am SOOOO excited (to say the least). I can't wait for some down time with my family. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. This Christmas we're going to be hanging out in Munfordville, for the most part. Leah has her Christmas program at church this upcoming Sunday night and her preschool party was today (see the picture of her as Mary below). Lex is enjoying disassembling my Christmas tree on an hourly basis. I think when we put the tree up next year he'll call it a "no-no." Both of them are excited about the presents under the tree and Leah and I have enjoyed trying (key word, trying) to bake and decorate some Christmas cookies this year. (Too bad we eat them all before we give them away to anyone else.)

Things we are thankful for as we celebrate this Christmas season...
OUR FAMILY - God has blessed us with a wonderful marriage and two beautiful children. And they have both been so easy!! I don't know why He thought we deserved easy kids, but I'm glad He did.
GOD'S PROVISION - Dispite our circumstances the latter half of the year, God has continually provided for us. It's amazing the many different ways he has rained down his "manna," but through the entire time there has never been a time where we worried we wouldn't be ok. (And being the number cruncher that I am, I never imagined we'd make it this long with Doug at home with the kids!!)
OUR FUTURE - We don't know exactly what God has in store for us next, but we do know that He knows!! Doug starts seminary in January, FINALLY - so be in prayer for him!!

Leah as Mary (Joseph doesn't look too happy - probably because he's the ONLY boy in a preschool class full of girls!!)

I was so busy the end of last month and the beginning of this one with OTHER people's pictures and Christmas cards that I waited almost too late to order my own Christmas cards!! So we'll only be sending out a few this year (and they may not actually get delivered until after Christmas =) MERRY CHRISTMAS ANYWAY!!

santa

Seeing as this is the first year EITHER of our children have ever sat on Santa's lap we HAD to buy the photos!! Leah went first - she was SO excited about talking to Santa this year (finally), but I think once she got there she went blank. Santa had to do all but pull her tongue out to get her to start talking. But once she did, Lex started reaching for her. So we sat him there too - suprisingly enough he liked Santa too!!

Anyway - all is well in the Bratcher house these days! Sorry that our posts have been few and far between lately!! We are looking forward to spending more holidays with our family. I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!