JIM AND JESSICA Frakes are trying something different this Christmas Eve at Smythe's Cottage and Tavern, their historically themed restaurant in downtown Fredericksburg.

Wanting to be with their four children, the Frakeses are having a special Christmas Eve event at the restaurant that includes a holiday meal plus family-centered activities like caroling, cookie-making and carriage rides along downtown's most festively decorated streets.

"We've been open other years on Christmas Eve, but had to be away from our four children," said Jessica Frakes. "This way, our kids will be with us doing the same things they've always done on Christmas Eve. They'll just be doing them with other children here in the restaurant."

The Frakeses both started working at the restaurant 15 years ago, starting in the same week as employees of Jessica's father, Lonny Williams.

Though according to her, "We didn't like each other much" in the beginning, familiarity turned into romance and eventually, into marriage.

Three years ago, they purchased the restaurant from Williams.

Since then, they've come to know a regular group of customers, to the point where some of them feel like family to the young Frakeses, ages 6 months to 9.

"Some years, our children have made Christmas ornaments to give out during the holidays," she said. "And some of them come in here with gifts for the kids."

To serve some of those regulars, especially those who don't have family here or somewhere else to be for Christmas dinner, the Frakeses will open from noon to 5 p.m. to serve a selection of special holiday meals.

"We really feel a responsibility to be here for them," said Frakes, noting that they'll probably provide a ride home for one or two who need it.

Mixing family and business is something the Frakeses have been doing since they purchased the restaurant, a downtown fixture for more then 20 years.

A room upstairs in the restaurant is set up as a child's play area, and is where the two not yet in school spend much of their day. Mom and Dad alternate between supervising the children and operating the restaurant.