Collecting leaves for Thanksgiving dinner table decor
Found some great leaves!
It was freezing!
Our friends came with us for this bundled up freezing walk
Robert was beyond excited about the outcome of his
"free range, fresh, Trader Joe's turkey"
We had a very nice Thanksgiving, yet somehow, we failed to take pictures.
Robert, Forest, and I, started the day out with watching the Thanksgiving parade on the couch with our coffee in the morning.
Extended family. Hot cider. A lot of Cooking. Eating too much wonderful food.
And lots of enjoying eachother's company!
A week before Thanksgiving, Forest and I set out (in a bad mood) to find two matching table cloths for our table plus the added fold up table we would be adding to it.
Finding two matching table cloths had become my Thanksgiving goal. And finding them for a cheap price was my even bigger goal. It wasnt happening.
Anyways, we set out (like i said) for our last attempt. It was freezing and about to pour rain.
On my way from the car to the store, I noticed a family sitting on the curb asking for money.
I thought to myself, "they sure do know how to work the oldest scheme in the book. Using their kids on a freezing cold day". But as I went inside the store, I looked at Forest and knew what we had to do. Went outside, asked them if they would like to join us for lunch, and they said yes.
So Forest, a woman, one of her sons, and I, walked to get lunch together. She hesitated to bring her other two boys, since they were younger and would probably get more money for the family by staying. Im not a fool. I know ALL the tricks. ALL the stories. ALL the reasons. I also,out of respect, dont ever mess with their "system". If their system was using the little kids for gaining pity, then i wasnt going to stand in the way of stopping their money flow. So, even though i knew her little boys were freezing, I let her make the choice of leaving the two youngest with their dad. (dont worry, we brought back food for them)
When we said goodbye after lunch, I prayed to God that they wouldnt stay out much longer.
And i prayed that i wouldnt stay focused on the fake stories i heard, or how sick with addiction they were.I needed to purely stay focused on the fact that, regardless of why they need money or how they have gotten to this point, i need to offer love and help. And i want Forest to see and know that this is not something unusual to do. And that its definitely not something to be doing
just once a year during the holidays.
With that said, Forest and I lost on our table cloth goal. We no longer had money for a stupid table cloth after the lunch outing. I did however, still manage to create a lovely dinner table for Thanksgiving. And had we bought the table cloth, we would have missed out on sharing a little bit of life with the people that we met.
Screw the tablecloth.
Robert, Forest, and I, started the day out with watching the Thanksgiving parade on the couch with our coffee in the morning.
Extended family. Hot cider. A lot of Cooking. Eating too much wonderful food.
And lots of enjoying eachother's company!
A week before Thanksgiving, Forest and I set out (in a bad mood) to find two matching table cloths for our table plus the added fold up table we would be adding to it.
Finding two matching table cloths had become my Thanksgiving goal. And finding them for a cheap price was my even bigger goal. It wasnt happening.
Anyways, we set out (like i said) for our last attempt. It was freezing and about to pour rain.
On my way from the car to the store, I noticed a family sitting on the curb asking for money.
I thought to myself, "they sure do know how to work the oldest scheme in the book. Using their kids on a freezing cold day". But as I went inside the store, I looked at Forest and knew what we had to do. Went outside, asked them if they would like to join us for lunch, and they said yes.
So Forest, a woman, one of her sons, and I, walked to get lunch together. She hesitated to bring her other two boys, since they were younger and would probably get more money for the family by staying. Im not a fool. I know ALL the tricks. ALL the stories. ALL the reasons. I also,out of respect, dont ever mess with their "system". If their system was using the little kids for gaining pity, then i wasnt going to stand in the way of stopping their money flow. So, even though i knew her little boys were freezing, I let her make the choice of leaving the two youngest with their dad. (dont worry, we brought back food for them)
When we said goodbye after lunch, I prayed to God that they wouldnt stay out much longer.
And i prayed that i wouldnt stay focused on the fake stories i heard, or how sick with addiction they were.I needed to purely stay focused on the fact that, regardless of why they need money or how they have gotten to this point, i need to offer love and help. And i want Forest to see and know that this is not something unusual to do. And that its definitely not something to be doing
just once a year during the holidays.
With that said, Forest and I lost on our table cloth goal. We no longer had money for a stupid table cloth after the lunch outing. I did however, still manage to create a lovely dinner table for Thanksgiving. And had we bought the table cloth, we would have missed out on sharing a little bit of life with the people that we met.
Screw the tablecloth.
1 comment:
Hi Tiffany,
I just wanted to say thank you for sharing this story. There are so many times when I want to do the same thing but I always come up with some sort of excuse or reason why not to help someone. Buying lunch instead of giving money is a great idea. You are a very inspirational person; Forest is lucky to see your example.
Happy New Year.
Kristin Matthews
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