Christmas Day

Hello! Today is New Year's Day here in Australia, but I still have Christmas stuff to share.

Behold our little Christmas tree! A few years ago we swapped out our huge one for a cute little table top one. I love it. I also have several ornaments from some of my favourite artists to hang on the tree as well. And out Angel still gets to go on top. I can't remember a Christmas without her.



This year I also ordered some special memorial ornaments for my girls and also for Possum. Just from one of those personalised ornament kiosks you see in shopping centres. This was pre-COVID is everywhere in Brisbane. Because our tree is very small, there isn't really space to hang them on it, so I got some ornament hangers so we could have them up on our bookshelves.





Now for some food. I took a low key approach to my Christmas breakfast. A vegan croissant I had bought a few days before filled with some mango peach jam, a bowl of Alpro vanilla yoghurt with mango and blueberry, and one of the cranberry muffins I had made a few days before for Litha. We normally have some orange juice as well on Christmas morning, but I tend to find straight up OJ a bit acidic for my tummy. So I mixed mine with some Mojo Ginger Kombucha and it was lovely!



Then it was time for presents! We are pretty low key as far as presents go at Christmas. I got some books, which I think is always a good Christmas present. And my mum also surprised me with a vegan chocolate hamper! It was from a place called Only Mine, which I had never heard of before. I haven't tried any yet because we are still working our way through some other snacks, but I will definitely report when I do!





But what you really care about is what was in those stockings for the cats! Well, there was a whole array of toys and treats. Behold!





After presents, we watching The Muppet's Christmas Carol before starting on getting ready for our late lunch. I had bought a whole bunch of roasts this year, and we decided on the Field Roast Pastry Wrapped Hazelnut and Cranberry roast this time. We'd had it before, so we knew it would be good.



Watermelon, Spinach, & Cucumber Salad from Cook, Share, Eat Vegan by Aine Carlin: Because Christmas is in summer here, we always make a salad to include on our Christmas lunch table. This year I chose this lovely fresh offering. The recipe actually calls for watercress, not spinach, but I couldn't find any and I had a bunch of baby spinach to use up. It was such a great salad, topped off with some delicious tahini sauce.
Rating: :)



Orange Roasted Carrots from Happy Vegan by Fearne Cotton: This was the other new recipe I tried this year, some lovely orange and maple glazed carrots. I was able to find smaller carrots so I could halve them and they looked cute.
Rating: :)



This platter features the sliced Field Roast, the last of my precious Tofurkey ham slices, and Citrus Cinnamon Cranberry-Sauce from Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin, which I have made several times before and is my favourite cranberry sauce recipe.



Then we had the roasted carrots, steamed green beans, and Potato Squashers from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan by Dreena Burton, which have been a staple on a Christmas lunch table for several years.



Cranberry Ginger Cider from The Cafe Flora Cookbook: I also made this refreshing festive beverage! It is made by simmering fresh grated ginger in water, cooling, straining, then adding the ginger tea to some cranberry juice. My ginger tea simmered down a bit too much I think, so even though it was a concetrated flavour on its own it got a little bit lost with the juice. Though it still have a slight ginger punch. Or maybe it is just because I like my ginger to be super strong. But it was still lovely.
Rating: :)



Obligatory photos of the table and my plate!







Quite a bit afterwards, it was dessert time. This year I wasn't able to find a vegan Christmas pudding I wanted to buy. I didn't really feel like spending $50 on a huge vegan gluten free one from The Green Edge, and the vegan and vegan-friendly puddings in the supermarkets seemed to sell out weeks beforehand. So I dug into the freezer and found this little Sticky Date Pudding I still had hiding in there, heated it up, and served it with custard, cherries, and grapes.



Cute Kitty Photo of the Post



I continued the tradition of tormenting cats with hats, but this year I bought an all new one that has lights in it! As you can see, Boo was monumentally unimpressed with this development. Sorry Boo, this is what Christmas is like in your new home!