If you walk into a restaurant on Thanksgiving and see two ladies in their seventies sitting together enjoying a thanksgiving feast, what do you think?
- Do you think that their children must be spending Thanksgiving with their in-laws and will be with them for Christmas?
- Do you think that their families live too far away?
- Do you wonder if they have outlived their relatives?
If you walk into Cracker Barrel in Greenville, South Carolina on Thanksgiving Day, you will see two ladies in their seventies sitting together enjoying a thanksgiving feast together for two different reasons. One will be there because she didn’t have anyone to spend Thanksgiving with so she asked a friend to spend Thanksgiving with her. My mom will be the other lady. She was invited to spend Thanksgiving with one of my sisters in Georgia just as she has been for the last several years. She is sitting with her friend so her friend won’t be alone on Thanksgiving.
I bet that there are many people who end up spending Thanksgiving alone.
- They may have to work on Thanksgiving Day and can’t travel to visit family.
- They may be a college student who is going home for Christmas and can’t make the trip twice in two months.
- They may not want to go down to dinner at the senior center and sit with others who haven’t anywhere else to go. It is just too depressing.
- They may just want a quiet dinner for two.
- They may not be able to afford the trip to see friends and relatives.
Whatever their reason for being alone, I hope that there is someone as special as my mom that will invite them to spend Thanksgiving with them.
Do you know someone that you need to invite to join you around the Thanksgiving table?
We always go to my in-laws about 6 hours away for Thanksgiving. When we didn’t, we usually try to find people to invite.
Unfortunately the Spanish don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here! Sigh 🙁
XOXO Lola:)
How incredibly sweet of your mom!
I think holidays with friends can be just as special, if not more, than with family sometimes.
Your Mom is a good friend!
I usually end up with about 30 people for Thanksgiving, some of them family, some friends, some “orphans” who have no where to go. I love it! It’s my favorite day of the year, I love cooking for everyone!
This is a thoughtful post!
WOW~! Your Mom is tiggeriffic~! I have been to the Craker Barrel in Greenville, S.C. because our daughter used to live there.. What a wonderful city… I love the reedy river..
We are going to my son’s house for Thanksgiving in Illinois.. Taking Ben and his Mom with us..
That is a great idea to have people over to your house for Thanksgiving..
I hope if I’m alone & in need of Thanksgiving company, I have a friend like your mom to come to my rescue 🙂
Spending Thanksgiving with my son’s family in North Carolina. It will be wonderful! Have a great day, Esther
We always have extra people at our table at Thanksgiving and Christmas as well. We have been doing that for years! It would seem selfish if it were just us at the table. We usually end up with at least a total of ten for dinner, and everyone brings a dish.
At Christmas, we used to have a huge potluck at our house Christmas evening. We had as many as 65 people show up. We did that for many years, but when we finally noticed that many of those people never asked us to dine with them, or even thanked us, we decided that enough is enough. We still have a full table at Christmas, though.
Your mom sounds like a sweet lady! I’ve had nowhere to go on Thanksgiving a few times and someone always made me part of their family that day. It meant the world to me! Your Mom’s friend is blessed!
I don’t celebrate thanksgiving but I give thanks every day . Thanks 🙂
I grew up with a dad who was a pastor. We didn’t live anywhere near our extended family so more often than not, we had homeless people at our house for Thanksgiving. Those Thanksgivings are actually some of my favorite memories of my childhood.
A very thoughtful post and great compliment to your Mom. I think you are very much your Mothers Daughter.
This is a kind thing for your Mom to do!
A holiday is nice but a long friendship is even more important.
How thoughtful of your Mom. That was such a beautiful and meaningful post.
That’s very nice of your mom. No one should spend Thanksgiving alone.
I love that…your mom is one special lady and I can see why you are so sweet being brought up by a lady like that. I am a little sad that we aren’t spending Thanksgiving with my mom since she just lost her mom but we did invite them up that weekend for dinner. Hubby’s BD is on Thanksgiving so he got to choose where he wanted to go and of course…his parents. Which is great because I love his family so much. Just a tough year this year I guess.
Interesting and thought-provoking post. I like your Mother! She must be a dear person!
Thank you for visitng and commenting on my I-as in Inventor-post.
Since there are several who have asked, I am going find out about what the cups would cost and those who are interested my order them through me. I will also check to see if they are sold outside of Sweden and where.
I think I may have already said all of this in a comment on another post of yours. I am repeating it here, since I don’t trust the world of computers! (Look at the post about the table-blessing!)
Best wishes & hugs!
Anna
For the benefit of other readers:
Anna’s ‘I is for Inventor’-JennyM’s AT
We were raised to invite what we lovingly referred to as “strays” to all holiday meals. We still round ’em up and include them in family festivities today.
I was actually so touched by your mom’s act of friendship that I felt like crying. I agree. No one should have to spend a holiday like Thanksgiving all alone. It’s just too sad. You have an amazing mom 🙂
bless you, you mom rocks.
wondrous I post.
WOW. What a though provoker. I want to go sit with someone this Thanksgiving. Even if just for an hour.
Your mom sounds like a darling. And what an important post- Thanksgiving is a time to include everyone in the love! Great post!
Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. How nice to have your mom for a friend.
When I used to host Thanksgiving, I would invite people over for the all the holidays. Since I have been with John we always spend holidays at his sister’s house, so I no longer get the opportunity to invite people.
Your mom is a very special person. My mother-in-law never came to spend Christmas with any of her grandchildren. Her “married with kids” children always felt hurt by this, as she would always go visit one of her unmarried daughters for Christmas. Finally, she just said outright that she would never go anywhere else for Christmas as long as she had unmarried daughters. I totally “get” that. As a mom, you never want your children to feel lonely, especially around the holidays. She wasn’t “not coming” to see her grandkids — she was loving her unmarried kids. For you mom to have this kind of love and compassion for a friend is truly lovely.
What a wonderful post. You’ve inspired me to look around and find the answer to that question!
=)
PS. Thanks for voting for Oak Grove’s project!
That is absolutely lovely!!You’re mother is truly a blessing : )Happy Thanksgiving!
I’ve been in your mother’s friend position when I was in college and as a young adult (working in health care means holidays and weekends, especially to the newbies). I remember the gratitude and joy when invited to share the festivities with a friend.
Your mother is a wonderful person for doing that.
I’ll be at my mother’s nursing home for a chunk of the day because she isn’t well enough to come home to us. Seeing all those other people there without relatives makes me horribly sad.
how sweet of your mom!
We all need more friends like your mom! Isn’t that what Thanksgiving is really all about?
Thanks for your comment today. Your mom is a good friend. Over the years we have often had people who had no where else to go that year be a part of our celebration. It makes it that much more special.
Your mom is an angel to do that! What a beautiful soul she has..
I had to be alone on Holidays in the past when all the children left to go with their dad. I can understand how lonely, and depressing it would be. If I know someone, I would definitely invite him/her to spend time with us. No one should feel this way..
Such a kind gesture from your mum and I am sure this is exactly what Thanksgiving is supposed to be all about. I bet they have a lovely, lovely time together. x
Oh you made me cry. I want to come have dinner with them too. Can I?
xoxo,t
This is a fantastic post – and what a great woman your mom is! We always have Thanksgiving with some part of my family or my husband’s. This year we will just be staying home and doing kind of an open house for anyone that wants to stop by!
I loved this post. We have an ‘open’ Thanksgiving table. We have actually people I’ve never met before and this year there will be three like that.
I always think another place setting or two makes no difference in the scheme of how much food there is…but I love that our family feels open enough to call and say, ‘Hey, my friend has nowhere to go…can I bring her along?’
I would totally invite your Mom and her friend for Thanksgiving.
I’m happy they have each other!
Thanks for a sweet, sweet link to Alphabe-Thursday!
A+
What a lovely post! Your mom is such a blessing – and I hope many follow up on your wonderful idea!
We used to, my mom used to have people that just moved and were new to our church over – we had up to 25 people before, but we don’t really do that anymore.
that’s nice your mom did that. I hope more people will too.
If only Indonesia has Thanksgiving day!
I invited the missionaries over. Being away from home at the holidays is brutal. It’s the next best thing to home. Plus I always enjoy their spirit they bring.
your mom is a sweet and wonderful lady!
now, i see where you get it
thanks