Spice the Love No.3
Merry Christmas!!!
Do you have any special plans for this Christmas?
Every year, we welcome Christmas in our own way. Some years are filled with the bustle of hosting family and friends. Some years are spent out together over a few beers. And there are years when we simply stay home, quietly.
This year, we decorated the house early, right from the beginning of December, and planned to host a small cocktail party on Christmas Eve. But a few days before Christmas, he caught a cold, so I decided we would rest instead. It felt like a good chance for both of us to slow down after months of constant busyness. Luckily, two days before Christmas, he was feeling better, so we went out to work and took the opportunity to enjoy the festive atmosphere.
Our meeting spot was Les Monts, a long standing café in the heart of Saigon that I happened to discover recently during a walk. I wonder if anyone reading this is familiar with it. The café has a long bar, only a few tables, and an atmosphere that feels easy and welcoming for intimate conversations. The coffee, ice cream, and waffles are all delicate and well balanced in flavor. For a long time, partly because our work requires us to keep up with new places, we have rarely returned to spots that feel like quiet notes in the city’s love song. Stepping into this café, I realized how much we had been missing a sense of deep connection with inner stillness and with the quieter rhythms of life around us.
After finishing our work, we decided to celebrate Christmas in a spontaneous way by unlocking two public bicycles and riding around the city center. Cycling at an unhurried pace allowed us to see the city in the Christmas season from a completely different perspective. Amid the dense traffic, with everyone rushing to make it to church, shopping malls, or their next meeting point, we rode along chatting. When the roads became too crowded, we walked our bikes along the sidewalk. There was a gentle pleasure in keeping our own rhythm, without having to merge into the general frenzy.
When we got home, we tidied up a little, boiled a pot of herbal steam to cleanse the house, lit candles, arranged a fresh vase of flowers, made a cup of hot chocolate, turned on some music, and continued finishing the remaining tasks of the day. The hot chocolate I made was entirely improvised. I used two bottle shaped chocolates filled with vodka, a gift from my cousin, broke in a quarter of a sea salt chocolate bar from a friend, stirred everything with hot water, and added a few macadamia nuts, another gift from my childhood best friend.
The way we celebrated Christmas was much like the way I made that cup of chocolate, using whatever ingredients were already at hand. We believe that keeping small rituals for special occasions is a beautiful thing. But more important is knowing how to adapt to circumstances, so that those rituals do not become a burden to ourselves or to the person beside us. A slow and simple Christmas, to reconnect with a few important things that had quietly slipped from view. A Christmas that does not evoke memories like so many Christmases before, but instead calls us back to the foundations, to the essential core of everyday life.
In just a few more days, the old year will close and a new one will begin. I hope this letter brings a gentle sense of joy to you and to those you hold dear.
And right now, what would you like to reconnect with?
With love,
Nhà Có Hai Người (House of Two)
If this letter resonates with you or brings you something meaningful, feel free to share or forward it to friends and loved ones.
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