Invite someone to Christmas dinner

gramgrandkids1 · ‎10-31-2019

Christmas time can be a very sad time for many people especially if they are alone. I have never been in that position but knew a few people that would be spending the day alone and wanted to reach out to at least one person. This is the first year I did this and I am so excited as we will have an "honored" guest to spend Christmas with my family. I asked an elderly neighbor to join us for dinner. She lives alone and was happy to accept my invitation. She drives and is very active, sharp as tack and I am looking forward to having her share memories and stories with us. We can learn a lot from older people if we give them a chance to share their wisdom with us. I plan to invite someone each holiday to share a meal and fellowship with my family. If you know someone from your church or workplace, etc. that will be alone ask them to share sometime with you during the holidays. It doesn't have to be for dinner, maybe just a visit for cookies and tea/coffee. I thought asking my neighbor to come for dinner would be good for her but I think I am the lucky one!

buffieg · ‎10-12-2019

I'll be spending Christmas alone. My daughter and her family live out of state and will be staying home. Believe me, I'm not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me. I'll go to Mass and celebrate in my own way. My reason for posting is to remind everyone how lucky they are to belong to a family. I'm hearing so many people complain about all they have to do, company coming, blah blah blah. We don't always realize what we have until it's gone. Enjoy your holidays and your families. You never know when you'll be the one alone on Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!

JJsMom · ‎03-10-2010

That is sweet. :-) There is so much sadness and loneliness at this time of year, but it's easy to miss if you have lots of friends and family to share the holidays with. We have a similar situation. We found out our elderly neighbor would be spending Christmas Eve and day alone, so we invited him to Christmas dinner.

If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. ~ Desmond Tutu

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

we have invited three people (one couple, one single) who dont have anywhere to go on christmas day. we are having sixteen people over for christmas dinner. we will then have a few people over for brunch the day after christmas. i am so looking forward to it. it is exhausting, but a good feeling of exhaustion.

hope everyone has a joyous holiday, no matter how you choose to spend it!

********************************************
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

newname0 · ‎06-20-2015

@buffieg wrote:
I'll be spending Christmas alone. My daughter and her family live out of state and will be staying home. Believe me, I'm not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me. I'll go to Mass and celebrate in my own way. My reason for posting is to remind everyone how lucky they are to belong to a family. I'm hearing so many people complain about all they have to do, company coming, blah blah blah. We don't always realize what we have until it's gone. Enjoy your holidays and your families. You never know when you'll be the one alone on Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!

We're trying to get my husband's close cousin to come for Christmas. He will have to take a Greyhound bus if he does but sometimes I feel he just prefers being alone. We'll see if he wants to come.

sunshine 919 · ‎12-22-2013

@sunshine45 wrote:
we have invited three people (one couple, one single) who dont have anywhere to go on christmas day. we are having sixteen people over for christmas dinner. we will then have a few people over for brunch the day after christmas. i am so looking forward to it. it is exhausting, but a good feeling of exhaustion.

hope everyone has a joyous holiday, no matter how you choose to spend it!

How kind of you, it sounds like you will have a lovely Christmas Merry Christmas to you and your family and friends

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

@sunshine 919 wrote:
@sunshine45 wrote:
we have invited three people (one couple, one single) who dont have anywhere to go on christmas day. we are having sixteen people over for christmas dinner. we will then have a few people over for brunch the day after christmas. i am so looking forward to it. it is exhausting, but a good feeling of exhaustion.

hope everyone has a joyous holiday, no matter how you choose to spend it!
How kind of you, it sounds like you will have a lovely Christmas Merry Christmas to you and your family and friends

thank you so much @sunshine 919 and i wish the same for you! merry christmas!

********************************************
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

haddon9 · ‎03-09-2010

It sounds really nice to have those who will be alone over for Christmas dinner. However not everyone who is alone wants to be with a crowd of people that they really don't know.

I can remember reading a thread last year where several people who will be spending the day alone actually prefer that than joining someone else's family. I can understand both points of view. It can be lonely to be alone (but not always) or it can sometimes be uncomfortable to join another family....in a perfect world we all have a warm family to spend time with and unfortunately not everyone does.

Sooner · ‎03-10-2010

Me personally, I'd rather be brought something (with a call the day before to settle on a time so I won't be in my pj's) remembered with a call or something like that.

I would be very uncomfortable with someone's family at Christmas. They have their traditions and share the time and I'd feel really out of place.

BUT I'd love to be invited over for a simple meal sometime, checked on, called and brought a sandwich if I don't want to come, invited for sandwiches the next day, or something like that, just not to THE family meal.

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

When I grew up, all of our holiday dinners had guests of honor. My father would pick up people he knew from nursing homes and also pick up homeless people from the streets and they would join us.

He would give them some money, maybe buy them clothing and take them back home or where ever they wanted to go. Sometimes, they would spend the night or a few days with us.

it probably isn't safe to pick up strangers anymore, but our holiday table seems to always have people there who are invited by family members. Sometimes it is a teen from a disfunctional family, or a person someone works with who has no family in the area, or a dad who has custody of his kids for Christmas.

We always have enough food and if they can stand to be with us...there are a lot of us and we can get loud, they are welcome to join us.

Merry Christmas, everyone.