Celebrating Our First Married Christmas

For their first Christmas together, many married couples find themselves torn between families, as they attempt to create their own traditions and set boundaries in their relationships. Since both of Mr. Traveler's and my parents live close, we've luckily been able to spend time with both sets of parents in our past holidays as a dating, and then an engaged couple. Still, I didn't expect to be put into a situation where it was a complete non-issue during our first married Christmas. However, as soon as we found out we were moving, we also realized that we would most likely see neither side of the family during the holidays. At first, I found this incredibly romantic. I imagined us cuddled up on a rug, near a fire, playing games and unwrapping gifts, Christmas music playing in the background.

Christmas Gifts!

As Christmas approached, however, my romantic visions dissipated, and I began to worry more about how we would make this Christmas stand out from any other day. We already spend every evening together, and we have no fire or cozy rug. I didn't want to cook an entire Christmas dinner for two, either. I researched restaurants serving Christmas dinner, and Christmas festivals which might offer a sense of the holidays that I couldn't imagine us achieving on our own. None of these options seemed quite right.

By the time Christmas Eve came, we had a couple of tentative options, but no solid plans. And despite all the worrying, we had an amazing Christmas, that I don't think either of us will every forget.


On Friday morning (Christmas Eve), we took a long walk in the park, enjoying the sight of dogs playing in the snow and frustrating their owners by getting as close as possible to the canal without jumping in. We ended up winding back through town, stopping for coffee at CoffeeCompany. While we sipped our coffee, Joel snapped a few pictures and I took in all the sights and sounds of other groups enjoying their drinks. One little girl caught my attention as she bounded back and forth from the railing to her family, hopping and skipping in delight at every sight. At one point, she stood immediately behind me, so still, and I almost forgot she was there. Then, a sudden movement in my peripheral vision reminded me of her presence. She'd been carefully watching a puppy, which was sitting below a table downstairs. When the owners of the puppy, got up to go, she waved feverishly at the dog until the door finally swung shut behind it. This little girl was so excited by everything: the puppy, the sight of her grandmother walking up the stairs, the decision of which piece of cheesecake to select. The unquestioning excitement and joy from that little soul reminded me of what Christmas is all about.

Taken from the Balcony of the CoffeeCompany

Later in the evening, we went to the Christmas Eve service at the local Anglican church. The church is small and cozy, with beautiful stained glass windows. The service was short, as it was geared toward the younger audience in the church. (The other option was to go to the more traditional service at 11pm, which was a little late for us.) My favorite part was the telling of the traditional Christmas story, in both English and Dutch. The woman telling the story spoke in a beautiful and steady voice, giving the feeling that she was quite comfortable with public speaking. While the story telling could definitely be considered a performance, it was extremely tasteful and appropriate for the setting. All eyes stayed glued on her, except during the moments that the small children were asked to carry characters for the manger scene to the front of the church.

For me, attending the church service served as a good reminder of the reason for the holiday; it also created some continuity between traditions, connecting the celebration of this Christmas far from home with the other Christmases in my memory.

After the service, we returned home and plugged in the lights on the Christmas tree. We then connected with my in-laws via Google Video Chat. What an amazing invention! We took turns unwrapping presents in front of the monitor, chatting the whole time. We got to see our dog, Marla, run around and play with their dog, and we got to see Mr. Traveler's mom's brand new Corvette. Spending time with family on Christmas, despite the distance, was truly a blessing.

After we finished unwrapping presents and wrapping up our conversation, I laid out the snacks that we had bought on the table. We enjoyed chips and dip, crackers and spreads, cheese and sausage, fruits and dip, olives, and cookies. After we finished munching, we put away the snacks and played a few rounds of Quiddler.

Christmas Eve Dinner

On Christmas morning, I baked blueberry muffins from scratch. Then, we played a few more rounds of Quiddler, I read, Mr. Traveler played Civilization, and we waited until 3:15 when it was time to leave for the circus!

Blueberry Muffin (and yes, that is a giant slab of butter next to it)

We had spent a while trying to decide on something to get us out of the house on Christmas day. All shops are closed and pretty much all restaurants are, too. Eventually, on Christmas morning, we decided to buy some tickets for  Wintercircus Utrecht.

The circus was interesting. We had opted for the cheap tickets, and we're glad that we didn't spend any more, because when we got there, we were in the 5th row. The venue was pretty small, so it was easy to see everything. There were several acrobatic acts (like a small scale cirque du soleil) and some performances with horses. When we bought some drinks at the concession stand, we even received a free ornament and a blinking hat! We were definitely glad when neither of us was chosen as a volunteer, especially during the rollerskating act, where they held the man from the audience and spun around and around. When they finally set him down, he looked a little green and was very wobbly.

After the circus, we returned home and video chatted with my parents and grandparents. It was really great to be able to see and talk to both sides of the family during Christmas.

Our Christmas celebration wrapped up on Second Christmas (December 26 in Holland), with a bike ride and walk through the woods and a stop at the pancake house.

Theehuis Rhijnauwen

The pancakes were tasty and huge. Mr. Traveler ordered the Fortissimo, which came with pastrami, goat cheese, olives, and sundried tomatoes, pictured below. I had the Krommerijn, which was filled with cheese and bacon on one side and apples on the other side. The side with the apples was extremely sweet, and I couldn't finish all of it! We both had very full tummies for the bike ride home.

The Fortissimo

Over all, we had an amazing first Christmas together. I hope that you all had a great Christmas, too!