Holiday Magic: A Community Thanksgiving in Centrailia

This year, I snuck in a little work over the Thanksgiving holiday. Usually I’m pretty brutal about dividing the business and personal life. But when you are a public-radio reporter, work merges into your life in positive ways, for you and your family.

This Thanksgiving, my husband, two daughters and I did the usual – we joined with cousins, siblings, and grandparents at our family farm outside of Centralia. There were potatoes to chop, a turkey to baste and a large table to put together. All the dinner prep happens between caring for two toddlers, and my sister and I sneaking off in between it all for walks in the pasture when we can. I also take every possible opportunity (and it’s rare as you can imagine) to sit in front of the fire with Bella, the black Labrador, and read.

This year there was another element to add to the mix: In the back of my mind I was hoping to skip out and briefly visit a free community dinner, to capture the sounds of Thanksgiving as celebrated by Centralia. Around mid-day on Thanksgiving, with the young kids down for a nap, my sister and her husband having just returned from a pasture hike, and my two daughters off with their grandfather for a visit to the Amish farms, I found my chance to escape.

Off I went to Centralia’s Friendship Christian Church free community dinner. Getting in my rusty minivan with a Marantz and my iPhone in tow felt good. Setting off for a good story is one of my favorite states of being. It may be officially work, but it felt like a holiday. Grabbing my equipment out of the van and heading in, I had the usual doubts familiar to any radio journalist, doubts that almost never materialize into problems: Are people going to shy away from my microphone, or resent the media intrusion on a holiday event? As all journalists know, it’s almost always the opposite that happens. The microphone and the camera allow a fun way for people to open up to each other and to you. And of course in this Thanksgiving holiday setting that was absolutely the case.

The dinner was taking place inside the church annex building right next door to Prenger’s Grocery in Centralia’s main street area. Inside, music played, families and friends sat at tables together, kids roamed and ran, and a big portion of the room was taken up by an assembly line of turkey and all the trimmings being dished out by a revolving crew of happy volunteers.

A flurry of greetings, hugs, and welcomes were thrown out to anyone and everyone who walked in the door. Volunteers had arrived early that morning to chop and mash potatoes and get meals ready to be served at the dinner site, as well as bundling up meals to take out to those the house-bound.

Tracey and Ronny Roberts headed up the front of the meal line with platters of turkey, Tracey occasionally running back to the kitchen for reinforcements or to Prenger's to grab more supplies. The Robertses told me they like big, noisy Thanksgiving dinners – and with extended family out of town, they decided a free community dinner would not only help others but provide some loving noisy holiday magic for their own family. One mom served trimmings – stuffing and vegetables – at the end of the line with her two daughters. One of whom was a shy middle-schooler with a sweet smile and a definite mic-aversion, the other a teenager having the time of her life.

In fact, one of the best things about the gathering was seeing the different ages in one room, without technology, sitting around tables and taking turns alternately eating and serving together. Gara Richardson told me one of the best things about the day was what it does for her kids. Her middle-school-aged son had greeted me at the door asking if I wanted dessert. He spent the entire time I was there on his feet, rotating with desserts and dispensing utensils.

Richardson’s other son, teen-ager Turner Smith, came in breathless from a delivery to local apartment buildings, excited that the woman they delivered to had reciprocated with a box full of food to donate. He said delivering meals on a holiday to those who had no one to celebrate with was a great way to spend his time – better than sitting at home doing nothing, he said.

I had to agree. At home, I had left a roaring fire, a really good book and a loving noisy family of my own, all of which were there for me - loud and loving - when I returned. Seeing a giving community gathered in downtown Centralia made me appreciate the family and home I returned to even more. Next year, I’ve vowed to make community volunteering a part of our holiday. I hope we’ll be there, or somewhere similar, volunteering, giving, connecting. And creating the true magic of the holidays.

To hear an audio postcard of Centrailia's community dinner, click here.

Janet Saidi
KBIA News Director