Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas day spent doing what you enjoy whether it be with loved ones or volunteering to help others. I spent the day with my Husband, my Brother and my Sister-in-Law. We had been invited to a larger family gathering but I think I preferred it just the four of us as it was only two weeks since Dad passed away (and I’d already ordered a turkey for the boys!)

We had lunch at one as I was more excited about evening tea this year so wanted people to get peckish again! I’ll tell you more about the individual items in my weekly round up but here’s a couple of photos of what we had.

My Sister-in-Law made this delightful chestnut soup, which was a great way to start the meal as it wasn’t too heavy. I made croutons with my homemade bread as again you don’t want to be full before the main event!

For the vegan main I made mushroom nut roast in pastry. We also had vbites bacon wrapped sausages and stuffing balls which I’d put granose sausage mix in. I also made my own cranberry sauce.

We were too stuffed for pudding and by the time our food had gone down it was time for tea! Here’s my vegan spread.

Another couple of hours later after playing games and quizzes and watching a bit of TV we were ready for dessert. None of us are big Christmas  pudding fans so on the suggestion of my Brother I made these individual maple pecan pies. The boys had ice cream with theirs, I went for soya cream and my Sister-in-Law had both! (Why not?! It is Christmas after all!)

My Brother and Sister-in-Law took a box of food home. My Sister-in-Law does outstanding work as a vet nurse at the Blue Cross Animal Hospital in Victoria. She’s working boxing day so will take in a buffet box of all the bits she snaffled! I also have my Mum and her partner coming over for lunch today so none of it will be wasted!

On to presents! I always feel lucky and touched by the thoughtful presents people give to me. The first one I opened was my Secret Santa from work. I think I am quite easy to buy for – some vegan treats and something owl shaped and I’m happy! I love these Divine Mint Thins as they use fairtrade cocoa and the farmers co-own the Divine Company. Also the famous mints you can only have after a certain time have butter fat in them so are a no go. (My husband quite likes this fact as when he buys himself a pack he know I can’t pinch any!) The candle is not only owl shaped but is green tea scented (the only thing I drink at work) and is made using soya wax. Soya is a lot more ecological than paraffin wax. I’ve even bought some granules myself to top up my candle holders.

The second present I open early was from my late Father who had ordered my gifts already. I knew what these were as I asked for them. In a bid to be more ethical I want to compost my food waste. Unfortunately I have no outside space to use it in but will happily give it out to friends and family! As I prepped a lot of my food on Christmas Eve it was useful to have the pail and I put together the big bin this morning. The only downside to that is that it doesn’t have a bottom so I will have to be careful about moving it if I need to.

The other presents that I knew about were tickets to see Miss Saigon in January with my Mum, money for a hair treatment from my Husband, a voucher from my in-laws which I have used to order boots as my current ones fell apart when I last visited them and my skeleton handbag from my Nan. I love my current handbag which has cherry candle skulls in it (and so do lots of other people with all the compliments I get for it!) but I have loved it to death and the handles are about to fall off! I also asked my Brother and Sister-in-Law for some perfume from a wonderful company, Eden Perfumes, based in Brighton. They are completely cruelty free and base their perfumes on famous brands which aren’t so you can still have your favourite fragrances once you’re vegan! I went for the one based on Paco Rabanne Lady Million.

My Mum got me a few little presents to open, including a boots voucher, an owl backpack, some owl stickers and lovely little notebook. My Brother and Sister-in-Law also got me an owl photo frame and some vegan goodies, my Sister-in-Law and I both love Ruffles raspberry sweets whether its a bag or the bars, They also got my some raspberry golden crunch biscuits which I haven’t tried before and the amazing massive hazelnut bar which is Vego! If you haven’t tried this one yet you really must! My Grandparents got my some lovely soft towels and a bath mat. My Sister-in-Law and Brother-in-Law got me a beginner’s dressmaking book as I had mentioned as part of my strive for ethical living I wanted to make more of my own clothes and go on a course so I was really touched they’d remembered and got me this!

Lastly my Auntie always gets us a little something and this year we weren’t disappointed with our Christmas pudding doorstop! I’m not sure whether I can bare to put it away on twelfth night so it might be an all year feature!

I saw a lot of lovely vegan meals on twitter and instagram yesterday, (remember I’m @plumesworld on both!) and I can’t wait to see people’s ethical and tasty presents!

Plumes x