Thanksgiving is a time of year when many people show their appreciation for the things they have in life. They get together on their day off and more often than not, they will enjoy a large turkey dinner. It is often celebrated with relatives but in some cases, there may be close friends invited as well.
One thing that is most unusual is celebrating the holiday with a complete stranger. Back in 2016, however, that is exactly what took place. Wanda Dench sent a Thanksgiving dinner invitation to the wrong person. It was a 17-year-old boy, named Jamel Hinton.
Jamel let her know about the mistake but decided to join in on the festivities anyway. Being a good egg, Wanda said yes and now two years later, they are celebrating the holiday together for the third time in a row.
Here is the original conversation from 2016.
Dench held true to her word and provided dinner for the teenager. She even refers to him as her ‘honorary grandson’ and they have become good friends.
So this just happened pic.twitter.com/zqElkMd6zM
— Ron Don ???????? (@CertoNego) November 25, 2016
Hinton went on Twitter to let everyone know that he was staying in touch with his “other grandma”.
2016, 2017…… 2018 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/0ZNA54uGAS
— Jamal Hinton (@kingjamal08) November 23, 2018
He talked to the media in 2016 about the experience.
“I’d never seen her before and she welcomed me into her home,” he said. “That shows me how great of a person she is, I’m thankful for people like that.”
The next year, both of them talked to the press.
“It was really nice having everybody here,” Dench said of her 2017 Thanksgiving. “We got to laugh about last year and reminisce about how it all blew up on our phone and how I had to change my number. We had a laugh and a good time.”
She continued: “The world is becoming a better place than it used to be. I’m loving it. I love that you don’t have to know someone or know their background to be nice to them.”
We are going to do a Q and A type video tomorrow for Thanksgiving with Wanda so if anybody has any questions or things you want us to talk about comment or DM me! Happy early Thanksgiving!!???? pic.twitter.com/CUhHtTsmco
— Jamal Hinton (@kingjamal08) November 21, 2018
Everybody was thrilled to see that they had met up again and there were many comments left to wish them a happy Thanksgiving.
Hinton said that he would be uploading a video of himself and his honorary grandma to YouTube soon. He also said that she offered him an open invitation to all Thanksgiving dinners hosted in the future, so it looks like we can expect to see more next November.
