very vegan christmas day
S had a desire for a different type of Christmas day that many of you will be used to. No presents, no fighting, no family, no corpses. This resulted in...
* Instead of presents, people brought along food and drink to share
* Instead of fighting we all got along splendly well, even those of us who had personal issues agreed to put them aside for the day
* Instead of family there were friends, old and new
* Instead of a slaughterhouse of dead animals featuring, everything was totally cruelty free and deliciously vegan
So what happened?
The begining
S sent the invites out to Christmas several months ago. She's rather organised like that. Oh on the day? Well I arrived with P, C and Ax to discover lots of balloon animals being made by everyone. I put together a jug of Frangelico Lime and Soda and a jug of Lemon Lime and Bitters. Both of these are drinks that are not commonly consumed in the UK, much to my dismay so I felt inflicting them on people was a very important thing to do. C and Ax got to work int he kitchen to put together the Celebration Nut Loaf with Lemon and Pinenut Stuffing. Many of us were nibbling on tasty things such as bourbon cremes, nuts, crisps and Mikey's Balls. The latter are a chocolate, nut and dried fruit combination (made by Mikey) that were rather tasty and allowed for many lewd comments to be made. The mistletoe was hung in the doorway (and in my hair).
Dinner
Dinner was a full sit down affair with crackers, party poppers, streamers and the like. There were silly hats, bad cracker jokes and attempts to hang as many streamers off the lightshades as possible. Food wise warm ciabatta bread topped with mango, tomato and red onion was to start. The main affair included brussel sprouts, carrots in soy sauce, mushroom gravy, couscous, tomato chilli and of course the nut roast. It was simple, but amazingly delicious food that went well with fizzy wine and various cocktail mixes.
Dessert and Dr Who
S, like many other vegan women, likes desserty things. Thus there were many delightful desserts on offer that had been planned well before the savouries. Immediately after dinner we had trifle and tiramasu. Both were very good and even C, who is not partial to desserts tried some. By this stage it was quite late in the afternoon and we realised that Dr Who was on. The tables were cleared and removed, S went to have a little nap and the rest of us settled down to watch the Dr Who Christmas special without the need to bit torrent. Ha!
Tea and Games
After about 15 minutes of "Strictly Come Dancing" C said he fancied a sausage roll. The tv was turned off, people started chatting and tea was put out so that further food consumption throughout the evening could occur. Sausage rolls, slices of mock meat, cookies, crackers, spreads, salad, hummus, pita and olives allowed for much grazing throughout the rest of the evening. The boys tried on the bright pink cowboy hat, we played a number of games that involved both mental and physical strength such as seeing who could touch an ever shrinking cornflake box with their nose (but without bending their knees- E won that!), pictionary, psychologist and a music challenge that involved the macarena randomly.
More Dessert and Mulled Wine
Of course throughout the evening more alcohol was consumed and there was a call for a pot of mulled wine to be created. S continued to amaze us with more dessert and marzipan icecream and cookies were served. Later a chocolate yule log was brought out bringing the total number of actual desserts to 5. There was lazing on the couch, hugs and random conversations. B decided where he would stay that night depended on bedspace, something that S and I were rather offended by ("he only wants us for our couches, darling!")
P took R, E and myself home sometime around 4am. E stayed at mine and we had a lazy day watching Tim Minchin on dvd before I headed out to catch up with some other vegan friends who were in town visiting family.
I'm glad that instead of drinking white wine in the sun, I was drinking hot fruity mulled wine in the cold.
Not everyone there was a vegan. Of the 12 of us on Christmas day there were 7 vegans, 2 vegetarians and 3 omnivores. But noone could deny the amazing deliciousness of the food which was lovingly prepared considering the needs and likes of everyone there.
Not a single animal was slaughtered or tortured or raped or abused for us to feast. There was also no cholesterol in what we ate. Noone felt they were missing out or that they were marginalised, harassed, forgotten or not considered.
Not everyone there was a friend of mine on the morn of Xmas Eve, but I would consider them all good friends now and all people I care for and love dearly. There has been much Facebook stalking occurring and plans to meet up over the past few days.
The overwhelming comment was that it was "the best Christmas ever" and I'll certainly drink to that! Well done!
* Instead of presents, people brought along food and drink to share
* Instead of fighting we all got along splendly well, even those of us who had personal issues agreed to put them aside for the day
* Instead of family there were friends, old and new
* Instead of a slaughterhouse of dead animals featuring, everything was totally cruelty free and deliciously vegan
So what happened?
The begining
S sent the invites out to Christmas several months ago. She's rather organised like that. Oh on the day? Well I arrived with P, C and Ax to discover lots of balloon animals being made by everyone. I put together a jug of Frangelico Lime and Soda and a jug of Lemon Lime and Bitters. Both of these are drinks that are not commonly consumed in the UK, much to my dismay so I felt inflicting them on people was a very important thing to do. C and Ax got to work int he kitchen to put together the Celebration Nut Loaf with Lemon and Pinenut Stuffing. Many of us were nibbling on tasty things such as bourbon cremes, nuts, crisps and Mikey's Balls. The latter are a chocolate, nut and dried fruit combination (made by Mikey) that were rather tasty and allowed for many lewd comments to be made. The mistletoe was hung in the doorway (and in my hair).
Dinner
Dinner was a full sit down affair with crackers, party poppers, streamers and the like. There were silly hats, bad cracker jokes and attempts to hang as many streamers off the lightshades as possible. Food wise warm ciabatta bread topped with mango, tomato and red onion was to start. The main affair included brussel sprouts, carrots in soy sauce, mushroom gravy, couscous, tomato chilli and of course the nut roast. It was simple, but amazingly delicious food that went well with fizzy wine and various cocktail mixes.
Dessert and Dr Who
S, like many other vegan women, likes desserty things. Thus there were many delightful desserts on offer that had been planned well before the savouries. Immediately after dinner we had trifle and tiramasu. Both were very good and even C, who is not partial to desserts tried some. By this stage it was quite late in the afternoon and we realised that Dr Who was on. The tables were cleared and removed, S went to have a little nap and the rest of us settled down to watch the Dr Who Christmas special without the need to bit torrent. Ha!
Tea and Games
After about 15 minutes of "Strictly Come Dancing" C said he fancied a sausage roll. The tv was turned off, people started chatting and tea was put out so that further food consumption throughout the evening could occur. Sausage rolls, slices of mock meat, cookies, crackers, spreads, salad, hummus, pita and olives allowed for much grazing throughout the rest of the evening. The boys tried on the bright pink cowboy hat, we played a number of games that involved both mental and physical strength such as seeing who could touch an ever shrinking cornflake box with their nose (but without bending their knees- E won that!), pictionary, psychologist and a music challenge that involved the macarena randomly.
More Dessert and Mulled Wine
Of course throughout the evening more alcohol was consumed and there was a call for a pot of mulled wine to be created. S continued to amaze us with more dessert and marzipan icecream and cookies were served. Later a chocolate yule log was brought out bringing the total number of actual desserts to 5. There was lazing on the couch, hugs and random conversations. B decided where he would stay that night depended on bedspace, something that S and I were rather offended by ("he only wants us for our couches, darling!")
P took R, E and myself home sometime around 4am. E stayed at mine and we had a lazy day watching Tim Minchin on dvd before I headed out to catch up with some other vegan friends who were in town visiting family.
I'm glad that instead of drinking white wine in the sun, I was drinking hot fruity mulled wine in the cold.
Not everyone there was a vegan. Of the 12 of us on Christmas day there were 7 vegans, 2 vegetarians and 3 omnivores. But noone could deny the amazing deliciousness of the food which was lovingly prepared considering the needs and likes of everyone there.
Not a single animal was slaughtered or tortured or raped or abused for us to feast. There was also no cholesterol in what we ate. Noone felt they were missing out or that they were marginalised, harassed, forgotten or not considered.
Not everyone there was a friend of mine on the morn of Xmas Eve, but I would consider them all good friends now and all people I care for and love dearly. There has been much Facebook stalking occurring and plans to meet up over the past few days.
The overwhelming comment was that it was "the best Christmas ever" and I'll certainly drink to that! Well done!