By Lisa 
Last thing we needed was Waffle House.
We had just dropped off our 7-year-old granddaughter after a family Christmas weekend. Due to her massive sugar intake, I am certain she is either an elf or a hummingbird. She occasionally dines from the Official Kid’s Menu, which includes fries, chicken nuggets (only from MickeyD’s), and cheese pizza.
Not one single green veggie passed her lips. Or ours.
That’s the problem. She passes cola flavored gummies and candy corn to us to try. Who’s going to tell that sweet little face no?
So we ate. And ate.
The Martin Family’s Christmas lunch was full of laughter, fun, and…more food. So we ate again.
Mark and I have eaten a lot in our past two and a half years of marriage. Every year, we arrive at Christmas Eve with a sense of deep regret and firm resolve for the New Year.
So we should REALLY make sure to enjoy our last days of debauchery, right?
We stayed overnight in Atlanta, figuring a little Adult Swim time would do us some good.
Lotta restaurants in Atlanta. Lotta.
So we ate. And ate. And had some (well, a lot) of Christmas cheer.
On the way back home, despite being as full as ticks on a short-haired dog’s back, we decided to stop at Waffle House. They have these yum breakfast bowls comprising the four food groups: eggs, sausage, cheese and hash browns. The calorie count, for those so inclined, was well into four digits. The flesh is weak, indeed.
As we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed an older couple getting out of an even older car with a WWJD sign in their back window. They were carrying a large plastic shopping bag.
Mark is a competitive fellow and may have said some Christmas coal-worthy words as the couple shuffled slowly towards the doors. Being close to Christmas and all, we couldn’t actually push them down so we could get inside first, and we sure couldn’t have run past them, older or not, in our current weakened physical state. We were full, grouchy and oh so tired.
Waffle House was, as usual, a circus of tired parents sipping coffee, sulking teens poking their cell phones, and full-throttle kids trying to figure out what a jukebox was. There were also the lone folks sitting at the counter, some obvious regulars making jokes with servers, some nursing their coffee, just wanting not to feel so alone at Christmas.
The servers and cooks wore Santa or Grinch hats and T-shirts. Tips are good at Christmas; everyone was in a good mood, laughing and rushing around.
Our server wore a Grinch T-shirt and hat. She smiled when I complimented her matching earrings. She asked what we wanted while turning and talking to others, telling them she would be right there. Waffle House is open 24/7, even on Christmas Day, and our server told us it is their busiest time of the year.
How many people come to Waffle House on Christmas Day because that is the only place they have to go? Do they have no families or friends, or are they too far away from home to travel?
Christmas Day is…hard sometimes. Even during the best of times and with the best of families.
The elderly couple were seated near us and opened their big bag. They had two aluminum pans of food, one a sheet cake and one a casserole. I wondered if they had a large party coming to celebrate something because if so, there sure wasn’t room for anyone else.
One of the servers reached over the counter and touched the woman’s hand. She wiped her eyes and smiled, looking from the man to the woman. I thought maybe she was about to tell them outside food was not allowed.
She thanked them. The food was for the staff.
The woman pulled a stack of envelopes out of the bag and stood up. She then went from table to table, handing out Christmas cards to people she had never met before.
A simple, sweet gesture.
One of my favorite movies is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Gene Wilder was in the version I grew up with and he said:
“So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
Waffle House in Forsyth, GA, was exactly what we needed.
Merry Christmas…