For anyone unfamiliar with American Thanksgiving, it’s essentially a holiday built around food, family, and taking time to slow down together. Traditionally, it’s celebrated on the last Thursday in November at home, crowded around a table with people you’ve known your whole life, eating turkey prepared in a very specific (and very familiar) way. This year, however, my Thanksgiving looked a little different. Instead of a living room and mismatched chairs, we gathered at the Merrion Hotel for a fancy five-course dinner with Notre Dame students, the faculty who support them, the Newman Centre staff, and the wider community that so generously supports this program. There was turkey, but it was plated far too formally to feel like the usual home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. Still, it was probably some of the best food I’ve ever had. My favorite part was the dessert: a raspberry sorbet with a lemon and raspberry pastry, which I would happily dream about eating again.
The fancy (but delicious) turkey at our Thanksgiving dinner.
The unforgettable dessert that still makes my mouth water.
Thanksgiving has always meant family, food, and a little bit of chaos. This year, however, it surprised me. Although I was away from my family, this Thanksgiving was my favorite yet. In some ways, it felt even more beautiful: a large group of people, all far from home, choosing to celebrate together. Each table became its own little community, filled with shared laughter, second helpings, and stories that made the room feel warm despite the November chill.
As I looked around my table during the main course, it hit me that the people surrounding me had quietly become part of my family. We aren’t related by blood, but in just a few short months, these people have become incredibly near and dear to my heart. I truly can’t imagine walking through this program without them by my side.
HoB takes on Thanksgiving in Dublin!
I felt that same sense of community again about a week later during our staff “Dip Party.” Everyone brought a dip to share, and before long the dining room table was overflowing, from hummus to buffalo chicken dip to cowboy caviar. While every dip was absolutely mouthwatering, the real joy of the night had nothing to do with food. It came from finally slowing down together. In the middle of our packed calendars, it was one of the few moments where we could simply enjoy each other’s company without worrying about how many more mince pies we needed for A Light Shines in Bethlehem or what still needed to be checked off the to-do list. (And don’t worry, we had plenty of mince pies. Honestly, we had too many.)
There’s something sacred about moments like that: sitting around a table with people who have become important pieces of your life. We talked about recent travels, laughed at nothing, and kept talking in that way you only do when you feel completely at ease. Moments like these remind me that this program is about so much more than the work; it’s about the people who turn ordinary days into something meaningful.
