“Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat…” As I get ready for Christmas celebrations, the familiar words of the nursery rhyme from my childhood run round in my head. “Please spare a penny for the old man’s hat…” it goes on. The idea of offering charity at Christmas time might be well worth remembering, but I’m having a bit more difficulty with fattening up the geese now that I’m vegetarian!
Vegetarianism has sneaked up on me over a few years, with last year being my full veggie Christmas debut. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t as easy as I anticipated. It required quite a lot of letting go of expectations and traditions — not just by me but also by my family. And they were full of questions. Just what do vegetarians eat at Christmas? How do we get two meals ready at the same time? Is Christmas pudding OK? What do you mean, not all cheeses are vegetarian? Safe to say, it was a learning experience all round as we figured out what changes were needed and what could stay the same. But no-one starved and it still felt like Christmas.