charian christmas

before we left for our grand east coast road trip, we decided to have “charian christmas” – a time for us to do all the traditions we want to make sure to have in our new little family, and to open presents so as to not haul them to the other side of the country. monday the 22 was charian christmas eve, and tuesday the 23 was charian christmas morning!

we started our celebrations after our city-christmas-day with dinner at a cozy middle eastern restaurant in hayes valley. every christmas eve of my entire life {except for the one christmas i spent in england as a missionary}, i’ve had a middle-eastern themed dinner and conversations with family about mary, joseph, and the baby jesus. us eyres call this meal the jerusalem supper, and we dress up in clothes meant to resemble those worn at the time of the birth of christ, and we eat only by candlelight. as soon as the electric lights are turned off, we enter into character, acting as if this is the last meal mary and joseph are sharing with family before they head to bethlehem. it’s kind of a silly tradition, but it has always helped us to think about what that really must have been like, and to focus our christmas celebrations on the birth of the savior.

so the boy and i had a little jerusalem supper in that restaurant in san francisco – but we just had a good discussion about the nativity, rather than dressing up and going into character :)



then we came home and snuggled up by our tree, read luke 2 (and watched this lovely little video), sang some carols together, shared what we’d like our gift to jesus to be this year (it is his birthday, after all!), opened one present (from my parents), and fell asleep by twinkle lights in each other’s arms. it was just the sweetest.



when i woke up the next morning, i had that perfect christmas morning experience of being so butterflies-in-the-stomach excited and bubbly but not knowing how early i could wake anyone else up :) i read some scriptures about the birth of christ, set out some gifts by the boy’s sleepy head, and lay waiting until 8am. then i woke him up, and charian christmas morning began!

we were very excited to give each other the gifts we’ve been scheming up for each other. the boy’s favourite was the 2 pound bag of pez i gave him. he just looked at it in pretty much utter disbelief of delight for about thirty seconds after he opened it. haha! my favourite was the darlingest, most perfect bike that the boy gave me! it has a leather seat and leather handlebars, lovely light blue fenders, a perfect little bell! and just-right space for a basket. i was soooo excited when he brought it inside!!



every christmas morning of my entire life {including the christmas i spent in england as a missionary}, i’ve had eggs benedict for breakfast. as soon as we’d admired our gifts a little, i got right into the kitchen to get cooking. seriously, i have no idea how my mom made this meal for 11+ people for so many years. it is so tricky to get everything just right and hot and ready all together. our poached eggs were a liiiiittle too runny, the kitchen was crazy speckled with butter and yolks and dishes, the hollandaise sauce was not lemony enough, and different parts of the meal where quite cold by the time we ate…but! the tradition was fulfilled, and mostly deliciously. the pez garnish was a nice touch from the boy.



after breakfast, we went on the most happy lovely bike ride maybe ever. it was soooo sunny and warm and beautiful out, and we cruised around stanford campus, both admiring my new bike about every 2 minutes. holy canoli my heart was full of joy – christmas morning joy, the simple joy of bike riding, true love joy, sunshine joy, gratitude for where we live joy, wind in the hair joy.

then, so quickly, it was time to clean up and pack up! on to christmas round 2!