Inside the vegetarian Christmas

After an incredibly manic Christmas Eve in work, powered entirely by sugar and coffee, I made it home for Christmas with the family. The only difference this year is my boyfriend, Stephen was coming with me. We arrived that evening laden down with bags, it was a little embarrassing how much I was carrying with me because I had made a hamper for my parents and brought all of the usual stuff as well as extra presents but we squeezed them underneath the tree and sat down to watch my niece bounce excitedly around the room. I found it amusing that when telling people that I was bringing Stephen home for Christmas the main reaction was an overwhelming concern about the fact that my family is vegetarian but he is not. Neither of us were particularly worried and he certainly wasn't planning on bringing his own turkey to quietly feast on it in the corner but many strangers seemed to think it akin to a form of cruelty. He wasn't complaining when we sat down to a delicious dinner that night ( a delicious meat free dinner) I was shattered and Stephen was hungover so it wasn't late when we made our excuses and headed to bed to watch Love actually on my laptop, a great Christmas tradition if ever there was one. 

 I woke early after a fitful night sleep, a fact I think I can attribute to excess coffee and sugar the day before more so than excitement about it being Christmas. It was nice to wake up with Stephen beside me as it gave me someone to annoy while I waited for everyone else to wake up so we could get up and get our Christmas on. No dragging ourselves out of bed at 6am to see what Santa's brought , in this house. We haven't done that since I was small. So I waited impatiently in bed until I heard noises about the house suggesting others were stirring which was the sign I could get up and take the sleepy head in bed with me. 
We traipsed downstairs to see her lady ship get a scooter from Santa and then tell me that she got loads in her stocking because she wasn't greedy and only asked for one thing. Sounds like she knows how this Santa thing works. After that we all had showers and a mammoth breakfast of pancakes and french toast with fried mushrooms and tomatoes and it was absolutely ages before we got to the present opening part. I know  this because everyone was laughing at me for being so impatient. 

 The present opening happened much too fast and passed in a bit of a blur as I dragged things from under the tree and passed them around. I accidentally gave a present to my brother that was meant for my sisters boyfriend and no one noticed until my mum (who had bought said present) recognised the contents. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I gone a bit slower and had a chance to see what other people were getting too. I did pretty well from it this year with Damien rice tickets  ( from stephen) a great teapot for having my favourite loose tea ( From Stephen) loads of organic skincare ( my mum and sister) cosmetics ( my sister) and the softest dressing gown ever ( from my mum, it is like being wrapped in a really soft blanket, so cosy) among other things. I almost wanted to carry my spoils from room to room all day. With that over with we relaxed for a bit and my parents and sister made a start on dinner and it was just as we were sitting down to an early lunch that my sister arrived up with her kids. The house was full and the kids were full of excitement and I suddenly realised how wrecked I was and everyone was laughing at how myself and Stephen were lying under the very fluffy blanket I had gotten him but it was only because it would have been rude to go for a nap. Our opportunity came when my Sister headed home for Christmas dinner and the rest of my family went for a walk. We stayed back and I threw on my dressing gown of softness and we lay under the fluffy blanket until we heard everyone come home.

 It was after 7 by the time we sat down to dinner, with there being no turkey to prepare we really have no excuse for having it so late but between family visits and the walk everything got delayed. My niece was most excited about the Christmas crackers but I was most excited about the food and we filled the table with a giant nutroast, loads of golden roast potatoes, steamed turnip, carrots and broccoli, brussel sprouts, roast parsnips and gravy. This is the first year I have had nutroast at Christmas dinner as I have only taken to eating it all in recent months, a fact which everyone seemed to think a much bigger deal than I did. The food was delicious and it was great to have us all together. After dinner we pulled christmas crackers, laughing at the terrible jokes and even more terrible prizes inside. I think next year we will persuade my dad to tailor make our crackers again. He did it once years ago and we all still talk about it every time we pull a cracker to find a disappointing surprise. For desert we had sherry trifle, Christmas pudding and fruit salad with Ice cream although no one ate all three. Then we retired to the sitting room to relax for the evening. Myself and Stephen said goodnight a bit earlier than everyone to go watch the big sleep on my laptop, an old Humphrey Bogart film noir and I am sure he laughed at the irony when I fell asleep watching it. It was a great day as Christmas's go. 

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