CHRISTMASMAXXING
My history with the holiday and my newfound traditions (which I'm absolutely loving).
I went ham on Christmas this year.
My tree was up by December 1st and meticulously decorated. It proudly served as my Whatsapp photo for 25 days. I visited the Christmas markets multiple times, ate my fill of both sweet and savory, attended my first Friendsmas gathering in years, and even went ice skating! Iāve given into the holidays.
Ikea had the cutest Christmas selection this year. These ornaments are from the collection, as well as the tree skirt.
I restrained myself years past for two reasons:
- Christmas is a capitalist creation
- My relationship with the holiday had changed
Back when I was still living at home, Christmas was the one time of year where the family came together despite our differences. My small, household of 3 always hosted Christmas Eveārelatives from both sides of the family would gather at ours and a friend or two (or five) would also show up. The kitchen would be bustling with activity and the table was always full. As we got older, the amount of presents grew smaller, but we ended up playing White Elephant to make up for it.
The last time I experienced that was in 2018. Soon after, my mother sold the house. We spent 2019 at her new home in the desert, and the experience was unforgettable, to say the least. In 2020, I cut off contact with her completely. But thatās a story I will keep to myself for now.
2020 was my first year spending Christmas with just Daniel and Spyder. The days leading up to it were terrifying. A holiday that once centered around family gatherings suddenly felt so empty. I toiled over what we would do on Christmas Eve and was afraid that it would feel sad and lonely. But it wasnāt! I put up my tiny, thrifted tree and we watched Claus on Netflix.
I knew Christmas wouldnāt be the same and I had to forge my own traditions. Perhaps that was why I pushed away my enthusiasm for a few years, just to see what that was like.
During the last two years we hosted one guest and decided that this year (and the years moving forward), Christmas with just two people (and a cat) is more than enough.
FRIENDSMAS
My oil rice is front and center.
Portuguese desserts by Eduarda.
We turned Dinner and a Movie into Friendsmas. Viki and Naim hosted, and everyone brought a Christmas dish from their respective culture. I brought oil rice, a Taiwanese dish thatās eaten during celebrations. Growing up, we didnāt have conventional American Christmas fareāour family did Chinese pot lucks. We ate dumplings, bought fried rice and noodles from our local Chinese restaurantā¦ Plus, Naim chose Yi Yi (2000) for the movie that night, which is a Taiwanese classic!
There was a beautiful scene right before this one where the granddaughter has her head in her grandmotherās lap. But I was too slow so I snapped this instead.
We played White Elephant the way my family did. Everyone was really polite so I was the only person who ended up stealing a gift. The theme was board games, so we all went home with a new game.* I had a lot of fun, but my stomach needed two full days to recover! š®āšØ
*I was the only person to bring an āoldā game. It was still unopen, I just bought it 10 years ago.
CHRISTMAS EVE
Both Daniel and I donāt like to cook and eat microwaveable food regularly. So every year for Christmas Eve, we challenge ourselves to cook a big feast! We started this tradition two years ago, where we pick a country and cook some popular dishes. We started with Chinese hot pot and made a Polish spread last year.
This year, thanks to all the K-dramas Iād been watching, I chose Korean. We cooked all day on Christmas Eve and it was so worth it. Who knew sundubu jjigae was so easy to make?! Daniel decided he didnāt like pork belly cooked this way, so I had them all to myself. I ended up buying way too much meat so now we have enough for New Yearās Eve hot pot.
From left to right: sundubu jjigae (tofu stew), beansprout salad, cucumber salad, seafood pancake, and mayak eggs.
Iād been baking cookies since November so I felt confident about making matcha white chocolate chip cookies. I started referencing tips from various other recipes, one which stated that the cookie dough should chill in the fridge for 2 hours before baking. Since itās 1Ā°C right now, I figured I could just leave the cookie dough outside for a couple of hours. That was a mistake! The dough ended up freezing, and what could have been aesthetically-pleasing cookies turned into an ugly delicious mess. Heavy on the delicious, though.
The sunken holes were where the white chocolate chips had melted.
We ended the evening with half a bottle of cheap glĆ¼hwein (never again) and Scrooged (1988). Iāve only seen that movie as a kid so I wanted to view it as an adult. It was fun, though some bits aged poorly. But what can you expect from the ā80s!
Peep my cozy living room.
CHRISTMAS DAY
We continued the Korean food theme the following day. Usually weād just eat leftovers, but there are so many easy Korean meals one could make! We had banana milk for breakfast, followed by individual Shin Ramen bowls with chicken sausages and two slices of gruyĆØre. Daniel, who is usually an instant noodle hater, declared that it was the most delicious thing ever, and deserves to be eaten at least once a week.
Banana milk for breakfast, spicy Shin ramen for lunch.
We had plenty of leftovers for dinner. Usually this would have been Christmas lunch and we would have ordered pizza, but instant ramen came to our rescue.
Oh, and of course, PRESENTS.
We usually just exchange one gift of equal value, which we preselect because we want exactly what we want. So Daniel bought me the Toyo Toolbox in silver, and I gave him money so he could buy plugins for his music production program.
Japanese Toyo toolbox, the biggest version.
This was not intended to be a Christmas gift, but it came in the mail around the same time (I bought it months ago), so I wrapped it up just so I could have an extra gift. Iāll let you guess what this is for.
New hobby coming soon. Any guesses what this is for? The name is a hint.
Finally, Boba got a gift too! Itās a scratcher thatās shaped like a vinyl! We thought it was so cute. But so far, only the two of us have been dj-ing the floor while sheās completely ignored it.
There are many other versions but we are big fans of āMeow Punkā in this house!
This year felt long. I felt the passage of time since I didnāt have a job to escape to and it was weird. I really got in my feels which is why Iāve been on this quest to find my spark back, and one of those things is celebrating the holidays, because I fucking love decorating to a theme. Iām also decorating for New Yearās Eve, something Iāve never done.
Christmas isnāt for everyone, but Iāve concluded that it is for me. And I enjoy keeping it small and cozy.