Husband-and-wife tandem and style elites Joanna and Raul Francisco, owners of fashion boutiques Carbon, Tint, 180 Degrees, get more stylish as they talk about their “love”— the Christmas season and everything about it

JOANNA
What’s Christmas for you?
Playing Christmas carols at home, having family activities like decorating the tree, inviting carolers over and wrapping presents together. We make sure to share all our blessings with others, too, so as not to lose sight of reality in the excessiveness of the season.

What’s your Christmas comfort food?
Roast beef, galantina and roast chicken or turkey with a good mushroom gravy. Oh, and food for the gods!

Do you cook? What would you prepare for Raul this Christmas?
Yes! I’d buy the best grill, get a nicely marbled steak and grill it to perfection for him. He’s a steak lover and he allows himself to indulge when it’s worth it. I’d get big portobello mushrooms and grill them, too, because I love mushrooms.

December 25 or January 1?
Definitely December 25. We LOVE Christmas!

If you’ll spend Christmas abroad, where would you want to eat?
At my abuelita's house in San Francisco. She really knows how to cook up a feast! Anything you can possibly think of is there. It’s how Noche Buena really should be—the food, the music and gifts for everyone.

What's an ideal Christmas dinner for the family?
I’m a “nester” by nature and part of that instinct is making sure my husband and kids eat well. So what really matters is that I’m surrounded by people I love.

RAUL
What’s Christmas for you?
Christmas is all about the kids and family. For us, it is a festive time when there’s a moratorium on rules regarding over-indulging and over-spending!

Do you cook? If you do, what would you prepare for Joanna this Christmas?
I don’t cook. I just look forward to dinner at home. It’s a time when we discuss how our day went, how the kids are doing in school and just catch up with each other. Joanna makes sure we have well-balanced, delicious meals, but of course she'll make the occasional lengua, mechado, Korean beef stew and other "sinful" dishes. Then we'll have grilled chicken and fish for days after that! We're also big soup and salad people. With food this good at home, I don't feel the need to eat out!

What’s your Christmas comfort food?
Ham, callos and all the food my wife and Mom prepare!

December 25 or January 1?
We’re morning people and don’t really drink or have late-nights out—and that's pretty much all that happens on New Year’s Eve! We do, however, welcome each New Year with grateful hearts for being given another year, another chance to fulfill our goals and dreams.

If you’ll spend Christmas abroad, where would you want to eat?
Our favorite Cuban restaurant in Los Angeles named Versailles.

What's an ideal Christmas dinner?
Some of our closest family members live abroad, so it would be one where everyone is together. As a couple, for as long as we're together, healthy and balanced, we'll be happy!

Read more of the couple’s simple Holiday pleasures in Yin and Yang Section of the Dec-Jan 2008 issue of Appetite.