Senior Citizen Thanksgiving Dinner 2002
	Every year the Temple Elementary School celebrates an early Thanksgiving with the seniors in town. It is a wonderful tradition that has been carried out for about thirty years. It started at the old school and as the numbers grew, it was moved to the Town Hall. When our new school was opened in 1998 we began celebrating the Senior Citizen Thanksgiving in our multipurpose room.  This tradition has evolved over the years, but it has always maintained its original purpose, to bring young, not so young, and elderly together in one place to enjoy each other and have fun. This year was no exception.
				A lot of work goes into preparing for this day. About a month before the dinner we send home notices asking for parent help and for a parent coordinator to put this whole thing together. We have never been disappointed. At that point the parent coordinator takes over the food preparation schedule and we concentrate on sending out invitations, making placemats, and designing centerpieces. About two days before the dinner the fourth graders make pans and pans of apple crisp to serve for dessert. The night before the big event the multipurpose room is set up to look like a beautiful dining hall. This is accomplished by staff and fourth grade volunteers who stay after school to help.
				On the morning of the dinner our kitchen is a flurry of activity. The parent coordinator (who has been working non-stop for a couple of weeks already) arrives at approximately 8:00a.m. to greet all the parent elves who arrive laden with food and energy. Everyone works in unison to prepare for the arrival of our guests. That's when the fun begins. Seniors begin arriving at around 11:30a.m and are welcomed by a fourth graders who hang up their coats and ask them to take a seat wherever they would like. At every table, two fourth graders standby to chat and make sure everyone is comfortable.
		Noontime is when things really start hopping. As fast as parent volunteers can fill up bowls of turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, peas, rolls, gravy, and cranberry sauce, the fourth graders are bringing them to their assigned senior tables. They carefully watch to make sure that as soon as a bowl is empty it is taken back to the kitchen to be refilled. While those servers assigned to seniors are making sure everything is taken care of at their tables, the fourth graders who are assigned to serving the rest of their schoolmates are busily delivering dinners to the teachers and students in grades one through three. When everyone is finished with dinner, dessert and coffee (by a parent) are served.
				After dinner the seniors (and any parents who want to come) are treated to a performance by the students. This year they saw the results of the work of our Artist in Residence, Jess Lawler, a dance instructor with the New Hampshire Dance Institute. First Grade wowed them with a dance to I Want to Hold Your Hand, second grade did a rousing rendition of Dem Bones, third grade slayed them by dancing to Hair, and fourth grade blew them away with the final dance of the day done to Flashdance. That ended our wonderful Senior Thanksgiving Dinner. Our guests we given a sweet bread to take home and enjoy and when the multipurpose room was empty, the fourth graders finally sat down to devour their dinners. As in years past, those of us who have been a part of this amazing tradition marvel at the generosity of our parents, the kind heartedness of our students, and the spirit of our seniors. Temple is an incredible place to live.