December 25, 2007

• Merry Christmas!

  For those of you who don't know this story, here is a little true Thanksgiving tale to keep you amused on this Christmas Day...

  So... back in my single days, my mom came to visit me in Boston for
  Thanksgiving. Initially, we planned to make a little dinner for us and
  a few of my friends, but then said friends ended up going out of town.
  No problem, thought I, we'll go to a restaurant! I knew it could be
  tough going, but I figured we'd find something... and find something we
  did .

  We drove a ways out to a favorite restaurant of mine, all the while
  keeping tabs on the places we passed that looked open (not many, one,
  to be exact). Of course my favorite restaurant was booked up, so we
  headed back to the one place we saw that looked open, a restaurant/ bar
  in Allston. So we park the car and walk in and wait to be seated. There
  was a big group of people gathered along a long table in the bar area,
  but otherwise the place looked empty. Finally the waiter comes up to us
  and with a strange look on his face says, "Can I help you?"

  "Yes, we're here for dinner," I say, hair freshly done and dressed in
  my Thanksgiving finery. In the back of my head I was thinking, "Can you
  help me? Don't you know the drill by now? People come in, you ask how many in the party and you seat them. Not that complicated."

  Awkward pause.

  "Okay... you can sit here," he said, showing to a table in the eating area right by the door.

  So we sit down and wait for the menus. And we wait. And finally the
  waiter comes back with two plates with the usual turkey, stuffing, etc.

  Okaaaay ... so, I said to my mom, "I guess they just have a set Thanksgiving menu."

  When he seated us, I was sitting where I could see the bar seating in
  front of me to my left and the entryway to a banquet area in front of
  me to my right. My mom was facing me and couldn't see either.

  About 5 bites into my meal, I look into the banquet area and see some
  people who are dressed in obviously very worn clothes and that's when
  it hit me...

  

  This was a free meal for the needy.

  I quietly filled my mom in and we both turned bright red .
  When the waiter came back over to bring us our drinks, we explained
  that we didn't realize that they were just hosting a dinner for people
  in need, we thought they were open and we were happy to pay for our
  dinner. The waiter just laughed and refused to take our money.

  And that Thanksgiving has forever become known as the Thanksgiving That
  We Took Food Out of the Mouths of Hungry People.

  

  • 8:40 am
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