Last week was Thanksgiving. We have this holiday thanks to the Pilgrims who first came to America seeking religious freedom, but found more than that! Thanksgiving is a special day of the year where Americans gather together with family and friends around the table eating turkey and such while sharing what they are thankful for. It’s a time to remember the blessings we all have and spending time with loved ones.
This year my husband, our daughter and I did something different. This year instead of partaking in all the good food and hanging out with family and “taking“, we decided to go to Imola, Italy and do some “giving“. We had the opportunity to help Chiesa La Rocca, a small evangelical church in Imola, Italy, do a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner for their community — with turkey, mashed potatoes and everything else that goes along with it and we served 160 Italians. This was a fun opportunity for a lot of people to experience some American culture and try some foods they may have never had.
That day started out at 10am. As we helped to peel potatoes for mashed potatoes and apples for apple pie, we also had the opportunity to make new friends and share about our lives. We talked about each others books and the books we want to publish. We talked about family, places we’ve been and did a lot of laughing as well. As the day progressed my husband helped cook the green bean casserole while our daughter and I helped set tables up, decorate the place, get plates, cups and all that stuff set up.
Before we knew it, people were starting to show up, sit down and it was time for us to serve dinner. It was a busy night trying to make sure everyone got the food they wanted. Since there was a language barrier between the Italians only knowing Italian and me speaking English and only knowing a bit of Italian, It made for an interesting night, but everything worked out. The people loved eating the traditional American Thanksgiving meal and we enjoyed serving them.
It truly was a blessing for me to be able to give rather than receive this Thanksgiving. I got to see our Italian missionaries. I made new friends and I got to serve people. And it was a joy to watch my daughter having a great time giving rather then receiving as well. Would I do this again? You betcha!
Kathleen Smith is an indie Author, blogger and she has her own podcast Kathleen’s Korner. You can read or listen about her life in Brooklyn and Upstate NY . You can also either read or listen to her personal story of how she and her husband kept their marriage together through 3 miscarriages in Miscarriages My Story