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Why We Stopped Going House to House for the Holidays

We hit a breaking point. We were so tired of rushing from house to house; we had truly begun to dread holidays. It was time to make a change for our family.

WATCH: Hobby Lobby Lights Up Mom Hearts With Viral Christmas Ad

Has Hobby Lobby entered the world of emotionally persuasive holiday short-form cinema? It would certainly seem so! And their Christmas ad effort is 100% geared toward what is undoubtedly their most loyal customer: busy (exhausted, out-of-time) moms.

“This Christmas I Want Food”: What These Foster Kids Want For Christmas Is Heartbreaking

None of them asked for this year’s hottest toy, or another video game to add to their collection. No, the children who filled out these tags listed their “innermost dreams”—things that should be part of everyone’s childhood.

Grandma Who Texted the Wrong “Grandson” Shares 5th Thanksgiving With Him, Though Heartbroken Over Husband’s Death

Jamal Hinton

“Of course you can. That’s what grandma’s do…feed everyone,” she replied, with some skilled emoji usage to boot!

Jamal said that if the invitation still holds, he’d be thrilled to join the family for Thanksgiving. The randomly hilarious exchange quickly went viral, and the two haven’t stopped their Thanksgiving tradition ever since.

Wanda and Jamal celebrated their 5th Thanksgiving together in Mesa, Arizona on Friday. But this year’s get-together carried a note of bittersweet sadness. Wanda’s husband Lonnie of 43 years, who had attended all of the other gatherings, sadly died in April due to COVID-19 complications.

“I wasn’t looking forward to it at first because Lonnie wasn’t going to be there,” Wanda admitted to CNN. “The past seven months have been so difficult, but this was really important to me.”

Though she had reservations initially, the 63-year-old grandma couldn’t be happier that she went through with the treasured tradition. “I can’t even explain how much joy I had, having good food with my favorite company,” she shared. “We laughed, we had a great time, we reminisced about the past. It was so good for all of us.”

“Lonnie was missing this year, and he was a big part of the Thanksgiving story and a big part of our lives, but that’s one thing Wanda and I know for sure,” added Jamal. “Lonnie would have been very angry if we didn’t have Thanksgiving together.”

“At first it was sad,” said the teen. “We had a photo of Lonnie at the table with a candle lit, and we were all shaky in the beginning but it lasted five minutes before we were back to ourselves. We just told jokes and stories and shared our memories of Lonnie, so it was amazing.”

Kelsey Straeter
Kelsey Straeter
Kelsey is an editor at Outreach. She’s passionate about fear fighting, freedom writing, and the pursuit of excellence in the name of crucifying perfectionism. Glitter is her favorite color, 2nd only to pink, and 3rd only to pink glitter.

Why We Stopped Going House to House for the Holidays

We hit a breaking point. We were so tired of rushing from house to house; we had truly begun to dread holidays. It was time to make a change for our family.

WATCH: Hobby Lobby Lights Up Mom Hearts With Viral Christmas Ad

Has Hobby Lobby entered the world of emotionally persuasive holiday short-form cinema? It would certainly seem so! And their Christmas ad effort is 100% geared toward what is undoubtedly their most loyal customer: busy (exhausted, out-of-time) moms.

“This Christmas I Want Food”: What These Foster Kids Want For Christmas Is Heartbreaking

None of them asked for this year’s hottest toy, or another video game to add to their collection. No, the children who filled out these tags listed their “innermost dreams”—things that should be part of everyone’s childhood.