A Very Vegan Christmas

Check out this amazing vegan apple/almond torte my Mom served at Christmas! Among the things I love about her is that she so easily accepts whatever personal choices her children make. When I went vegan one-and-a-half years ago, she never trotted out the silly, predictable questions and statements that vegans get: 'Are you getting enough protein?' 'Where do you get calcium?' 'Aren't you worried about osteoporosis?' 'Eating animals is natural: cavemen did it' 'Meat is healthy' - I've heard them all. Mom just breezes past all that nonsense.

Christmas/Solstice was great. My husband and I balanced family visits with lots of alone time. I gave him some fun and useful gifts, including a mini drone. He likes remote-controlled things. He gifted me with an AWESOME Berkey Crown 6-gallon water filter, and two vegan cookbooks - The How Not to Die Cookbook, and the Forks Over Knives Cookbook. I own and read How Not to Die recently, but had no idea that there was an accompanying cookbook, how wonderful! And FOK is one of my favorite pro-vegan films, so the cookbook is great. Thank you, love. xoxo

Our holiday meal was great for both the carnivores and the vegans. Everyone was included. There was an abundance of food for all, which is good, but December always feels like an all-you-can-eat contest. I'm always relieved when January arrives.

Now that the holidays are over, I've checked the calendar, and we have 64 days until spring. The Asian and Territorial seed catalogs arrived last week. The next three months will be an endurance test, as it always is. But I've been consciously enjoying winter, and hope to keep up the good feels until at least early March. We'll see.

We have several beautiful plants in the indoor gardens that are keeping my spirits up: a Thai Black Seed banana tree that survived the transition indoors after summer; many baby quenepas trees from those seeds my friend got from Puerto Rico; a new African violet; varieties of aloe; cool dracenas; one orange and one yellow South African clivia; turmeric plants; and yes, one avocado tree started from a pit. This one is staying indoors for life. Avocado never likes to come inside after a summer outdoors in the beautiful sun.

Ayurvedic practice is going strong, and its effects on my hair have been incredible. I've had more growth of new, healthy hair and at a rate that I haven't experienced before. Morning dinacharya is now a comfortable and manageable routine that includes nasya oil and a glass of lemon water. I've been reading Joan Didion all the while. Soon, I'll run out of new Didion to read. That's a good problem to have.

2018 is here in a few days. Before the new year arrives, I'll look back at 2017 - what I learned, what changed and what stayed the same, the blessings, and the lessons. Check back here for that post, coming soon.

Be kind to each other.

Barbie xo