My husband and I have done our best at Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations to ignore the dead bird or chopped up pig at the table, but what's supposed to be a celebration feels like a bizarre exercise in tolerance. It's impossible for us to ignore the journey that animal took to the table and the impact on the health of our family.
This year is going to be different - we've decided to take a stand for our beliefs. We explained to our family that we normally wouldn't request a vegan meal, but since Thanksgiving is a celebration focusing on food (its nickname is "Turkey Day" after all), we suggested that we have a vegan potluck. Otherwise, we explained, we'd come over after dinner.
They came back with a compromise. Thanksgiving would be a dead bird celebration and we're welcome to come for dessert (we'll bring vegan carrot cake), but Christmas will be vegan.
My first response surprised me. I felt sad that they would prefer to spend time with a cooked piece of flesh than my husband, our baby, and me. After all, this is about getting together and giving thanks. However, I quickly turned to my gratitude for our stand for animals, that we can express our beliefs with our family without ridicule, and that they're open to a vegan Christmas. That's huge progress!
