what does a vegan do for Christmas?

...well I eat of course. We vegans are just like everybody else stuffing ourselves silly.

here is what I've been up to:

• Christmas eve day I worked part of the day and then was let off early (woohoo!).
• Christmas eve we had friends to dinner. They brought a very rare bottle of a Super Tuscan wine we've never had (db help me out with the details of it). db and I served (well db gets most of the credit since I was at work while he cooked): mushroom, basil & pinenut bruschetta, homemade squash and mushroom lemon pepper ravioli with tomato sauce, mixed green salad with pomegranate mustard vinaigrette, and noel nog/kahlua truffles for dessert. It was our best ravioli ever.
  
• Christmas day. I slept in. We had more of a brunch than breakfast with a tall noel nog latte, bagels and Sheese (i'll explain Sheese later), biscotti, fresh pineapple, and panforte (too much sugar probably but it's Christmas!).
• Later that day...I lounged and knit while watching Miracle on 34th street.
  
• Still later...we prepped dinner by marinating mushrooms and veg for our completely raw Christmas feast of carrot and parsnip fettucine with pumpkin seed and chile pesto served with Portabello carpaccio and mushroom ceviche (we really like mushrooms). With this we had a simple salad with asparagus and a light creamy dill dressing. db served a Chateauneuf du Pape (oh my gravy it was good!). More truffles were eaten later that evening while watching It's a Wonderful Life.
  
• Boxing Day! No shopping! Yay! We ferried over to Nanaimo to see my step-dad who gave us our gift:

This is the ultimate text on identifying mushrooms. Being a beautiful sunny day, we went for a walk in a nearby park and ended up poking around the forest floor digging up various mushrooms. I had no idea there was such a variety. We froze our fingers carrying these things back to pw's car. It was worth it. In no time I was searching for mushroom characteristics and getting pretty good at identifying with much guidance from pw. As he said "I have no excuse now" to keep me from going out and foraging for my own chanterelles.

I guess there was a bit of a mushroom theme to Christmas. They are divine aren't they.?

I'm back to work but let's not go there now and ruin the fun I've had.