I spent Christmas with my mom at her home in Tennessee, along with my brother Eugene and his wife Heidi. It was a relatively quiet Christmas compared to some previous years; we had no other relatives or friends visiting, and we did not visit anyone else. We had a nice time together, and learned that Heidi — who had never played Boggle before — is a grand master at that game.
We had great meals of delicious vegetarian cooking, courtesy of my mom. I am happy to say that my mother is an excellent cook, and throughout all my years growing up we never had to rely on “TV dinners” or junk food to get us through the week. Our family was not vegetarian when I was younger, although even then we ate quite healthily by North American standards. But after my brother and I shifted to a mostly vegan diet, my mom eventually made similar changes in her lifestyle, and now is on a mostly vegan diet herself, and has proven herself very capable at making tasty meals without dairy products. I think she is good enough to host a cooking show on 3ABN! (I must say that my mom’s cooking has spoiled me, and it is difficult even for professional chefs to measure up.)
