Season for Gratitude
“Thanksgiving meal warms the heart, nourishes the soul.”
At L-E, we try our best to find restaurants that we believe offer potential for valuable memories to be made. The promise of a meal is often times simply an excuse to meet up with friends or family and enjoy their company; good food is an accessory to the main course: quality time with loved ones.
Every year, my aunt throws together an amazing feast of a Thanksgiving dinner. Her fluffy mashed potatoes, caramelized sweet potato casserole, tenderized candied yams, juicy slices of turkey, and immaculate pumpkin pie simply cannot be rivaled. One day a year, I allow myself to indulge in the sin of gluttony, eating until I feel my buttons ready to burst and resorting to changing to a looser sweatshirt to give myself some more room. Her incredible cooking technique isn’t what makes this meal delicious though - it’s the people sitting around the dinner table with me. It’s the family members who travel between states and countries for us all to gather sometimes just for that single meal. The love and warmth of us all being together is what makes this day delicious. Laughter and joy, familiar faces not seen in awhile, and the conversations over dinner as we catch up over new life developments and reminisce over old ones make the holidays for me.
For Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my birthday, I do my best to make my way to Washington D.C. to meet the homeless that reside at Franklin Square and McPherson Square. Sometimes, I bring packaged meals and sleeping bags. Other times, I bring money and some cheerful company. I’ve made this trip several times with different friends, family, and members of my youth group. Regardless of which occasion I come on, each time the same feelings of immense gratitude come over me. I’m very lucky to be living in America in the year 2022 with my family, a group of persevering refugees who braved much hardship and suffering to reach this land of dreams made true. I’m grateful to have been afforded the opportunities to serve others and receive help from others who saw promise in me. I view life as one big way to pay things forward for those who are less fortunate, and as I sit around the Thanksgiving dinner table with my family, I just thank God for having brought me this far and to continue giving me the means to continue His good deeds.
Once a year in America, we overtly call for an occasion to spend time with those we cherish most as we remind ourselves of how blessed we are. Thanksgiving, a tradition borne out of thanks and compassion, is one of the most meaningful holidays we have maintained. As it is in our other reviews, food quality is not everything in a critique. It’s the intangibles that stand out. Embracing a parent you haven’t seen in months, caring enough to share food with someone in need on a cold November morning, and saying grace before dinner. Food is nothing more than a spirited conduit for bringing people together, something we could all use more of.
Fun fact: Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3, 1863. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who wrote “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” convinced Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday after writing letters for 17 years.
Food Quality: 10.0/10
Meal Value: 100.0/10
Dining Experience 1000.0/10
Overall: Priceless
