How I’m Spending The Holidays This Year

Dec 11

The ultimate question this Christmas season - how are you spending your holidays this year? We all know that this year is definitely going to look different for a vast majority of us since big family gatherings are unfortunately not safe this year, meaning we’re all left to figure out exactly what our holidays are going to look like while we can’t get together the way we normally would. Normally, I’d be with my family on Christmas Eve for a big gathering and with my boyfriends family Christmas Day for dinner… but of course, that won’t really be the case this year. Let me share with you all what I’m doing this holiday season.

Christmas Traditions

Like I mentioned above, normally I’d be spending Christmas Eve with my family, having a big celebration with cousins, aunts and uncles. The house is always packed with people to the point that it’s hard to move, and my family would spend the entire day making tons of food including a cheese board, meatballs, spicy buffalo chicken balls, a shrimp ring and cheesy potatoes; we truly go all out with our unhealthy, holiday foods. Since my cousin and her boyfriend are vegan, the last couple of years, I started making a vegan charcuterie board (pictured below), and vegan meatballs. Another thing I tried out last year was making a batch of mulled wine from the Fraiche Food Full Hearts cookbook, which is a tradition I will definitely keep going forward considering how dang good it was. After we eat, we all exchange gifts, enjoy some coffee and tea, and have a lovely evening that usually doesn’t end until well after midnight.

What About In 2020?

Now… since obviously we can’t do that this year, it’ll most definitely be a bit more low key. Since my boyfriend and I are lucky enough to work from home, and my family is a part of our bubble, we’ll be spending Christmas Eve with my family (not the entire family that usually comes over; just my immediate family members), and we’ll be making the same food that we normally do, just on a smaller scale. Of course, we’ll exchange gifts and enjoy some time together, as well as spoil Freddie since this is his first Christmas! Hopefully we’ll be able to hop into bed a bit earlier than we normally do, and get a good night’s sleep.

Christmas morning, we’re planning on getting up and enjoying a big breakfast of eggnog pancakes, bacon (vegan sausage for me!), eggs, breakfast potatoes, orange juice and coffee. Afterwards, I love to spend the morning drinking hot chocolate, watching Christmas movies on the couch under a blanket, and then in an ideal world, we’ll be able to take Freddie outside to enjoy the snow (if you don’t know, Bernese Mountain Dogs come from the Swiss Mountains where there’s tons of snow, so they love winter). I even bought my boyfriend and I some Christmas-y PJs to wear, and Freddie a bandana that compliments my PJs (hint: my top says Holiday Baking Team, and Freddie’s bandana has Christmas cookies on it!).

So what are you doing this Christmas? Are your traditions pretty much unaffected by the pandemic or are your regular holiday plans severely impacted by the pandemic? Either way, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or whatever holiday you are celebrating this season. I’ll see you guys again on Wednesday for a very special recipe, and don’t forget to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Happy Holidays!