New View of Thanksgiving

Every Thanksgiving since I can remember has been a massive barrage of food that has been surrounded by aunts and uncles; grandma's and grandpa's; cousins and friends. The whole day has always been a social eating event followed by napping men on the couch watching,(listening) to football and chatting women in the kitchen washing dishes and getting the pie ready for dessert. I've always wanted to help those in need but never really had a family that promoted that sort of thing. In fact I remember a time when I was a teenager and I had worked the afternoon shift at a restaurant serving drinks and clearing plates for the Thanksgiving buffet. On my way home I saw a man on the freeway ramp hitchhiking. I had such a feeling of sadness, for how lonely he must be, overcome me. I walked into an overflowing home with the usual smell of stuffing and gravy greeting me at the door, I asked my mom if I could make a plate and take it to the man by the freeway entrance and she said that was too dangerous. I asked if maybe someone could go with me and that would make it safe, however no one was willing to leave their Thanksgiving ritual to accompany me to share some warm leftovers with a stranger.
Twenty years later those feelings are still very strong. So this year My husband and I and our four children decided to break the mold. We fore went the usual and stepped out of the comfort zone of the norm. We volunteered at our local senior center to serve the homeless, less-fortunate, or just lonely people that are in our area. When the serve-time was over and there were still a whole lot of left-overs, we took them door to door in an elderly apartment community. Thanksgiving dinner felt like it had so much more meaning when we arrived back home. The Turkey, stuffing and potatoes tasted so different because they were garnished with love. We now have a new tradition that we will continue throughout every holiday, helping those in need first, before we partake of our feast. We are so very blessed.