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A certain man as he was shopping for Christmas presents one afternoon a few days before Thanksgiving met another man who was poor, sick and had no where to go to spend the holiday. Thinking back to what he had been taught growing up he decided that he would invite the man to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with his family, and if he enjoyed it New Years as well. He invited the man and the man said yes, excited to have been asked and he went away happy.
The other man finished his shopping and returned home to tell his family of the experience and let them know of the guest that would be sharing in their holiday experiences. Everyone was excited and began to prepare for the visit. What should we eat? How can we make this fun for this man? How can we make him feel welcome and make sure he wants to come back next year? And all sorts of other question began to come to mind. Preparations were made and the day was drawing near. They were excited because this was the first time they had a guest that was not a member of their family they had specifically invited, and one for whose visit they had planned.
The man who had been invited was likewise planning and thinking. I wonder what they will think of me? I wonder what they will do? I hope it is alright if I wear these clothes, I do not have anything really nice. He was very excited to be introduced to something he had not experienced in a long time. He remembered back to his childhood and the wonderful time his family had during the holidays, but that was a long time ago and it was a painful memory. For the past Thanksgivings he had eaten the little he could afford at whatever open restaurant he could find. Now he was going to have a real Thanksgiving, and get to eat as much as he wanted. Then Christmas would come and he would get to sing Christmas songs with a family, something he had never had a chance to do. He could not wait.
Finally the day arrived. The family got up early to prepare their house for their guest. They were not sure what he was expecting, and they were not sure if he would be comfortable with the long standing traditions that their family had been doing for years. They knew that he would not be dressed in fine clothes, so they decided to forego the usual dress of khaki pants and sweaters in favor of jeans and sweatshirts. Finally the house was ready and they waited on him to show up.
He arrived dressed in the best clothes he had. As he walked in he did not see what he expected. He thought to himself, “Why aren’t they dressed a little nicer? Why aren’t they dressed like I remember my family dressing when I was a child? Where are the Thanksgiving decorations? And where is the good music that I thought you used to set the mood? Maybe some Thanksgiving traditions have changed. At the very least I bet the food will be the same.” As he thought this the family was thinking to themselves, “He sure is dirty, I wonder why he didn’t clean up a little. I hope we are casual enough to make him feel comfortable. At least we don’t have decorations and music, because those would probably make him really uncomfortable. Let’s hope that he likes the food ok.”
The table was served, and the family and their visitor made their way to the family room where dinner was set out on paper plates and TV trays. The family had considered using their fine china and eating in the more formal living room, but that would probably make their guest uncomfortable. You can probably imagine what the guest was thinking. Then they sat down to eat. And for the next 20 minutes they ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, Coke, chips, and a chocolate chip cookie. “We can eat our full meal when our guest leaves,” they thought. “He probably wouldn’t like this heavy food.” The guest was very confused and thought to himself, “What happened to all the Thanksgiving traditions I am so used too? Where is the food? This isn’t going to nourish me. I thought if I cam hungry I would go away full, but I am still hungry.” With that the visitor dismissed himself and went away confused. The family did invite him back for Christmas however, and he accepted thinking maybe that would be what he was looking for.
When Christmas came the much the same thing happened. He showed up in he best clothes and they were in their sweat suits. There was no manger scene to be found, and even no Christmas tree. There were no gifts either. At this point he began to wonder where all the traditions he had known growing up had gone. The food this time was ham and cheese. No Christmas ham. No potatoes, rolls, or turkey. No fine wine to savor. And all the while the family thought they were doing this man a favor. “Surely he would be uncomfortable if we did things the way we always do.” Christmas ended and the man left dejected. However, he would continue to return thinking this must be the way it is everywhere now. And the family continued to cater to him, even inviting more and more people to join them.
The years passed, and the visitor moved on; he found a better job and was invited to another home to celebrate. At this home he was surprised to find the traditions he grew up with. The family was all dressed in their Christmas sweaters and nice pants. There was beautiful music playing. And the food was rich and filling; there was ham, turkey, beef, rolls, all sorts of vegetables, more desserts than ever, and wine. This is what he remembered; this is where he wanted to be. And for years he celebrated with this family, and in many ways they adopted him as their own. A holiday never passed when he was not seated at the table. He began to invite his friends and more and more people came.
Then one day he met the man who invited him to dinner so many years ago. As they talked he told his first host about the past holidays and the joy he had been experiencing. They parted ways and returned to their houses. The holidays came. The man, like always, went to celebrate a traditional holiday with his new family. The first family who invited him was alone for the first time in years and decided that they would again revive the traditions of their past since their were no visitors, but they all of a sudden realized they had forgotten those traditions, and they reverted to the sweats and the peanut butter and jelly.
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