“You don’t have company on Boxing Day, but you would like to be with others.” With that message, Jessica invited complete strangers to come and have dinner with her in Moergestel at Christmas. Ten responses were received by Omroep Brabant, which the editors forwarded to her. Finally, three strangers joined her for Christmas dinner on Thursday.
“Chicken soup, mushroom ragout, potato gratin, roast beef, fish, meat in puff pastry, beans, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and bavarois ice cream for dessert,” Jessica lists in advance what she will make. Her guests will certainly not go hungry.
Jessica (58) herself is not lonely, but she knows that some people are. And her husband had to work on Christmas this year. So she made a call via a note on the notice board in the supermarket. “In the end, some candidates dropped out. For example, someone who lived in Rucphen and had no transport. And someone else to whom my emails could not be delivered.”
Threshold
A few others also dropped out. “It’s also exciting, of course. And those people are not lonely for nothing. They probably find it scary and don’t dare to do much socially. You have to mentally cross a threshold,” says Jessica, who is happy that there are three eaters remained. “It’s exciting for me too. I don’t know those people so I don’t know what will happen,” she says beforehand.
Around eight o’clock, there is quite a commotion in the background when she answers the phone. It was so much fun that the guests stayed a while for a board game. Jessica’s husband also eventually joined the table, so she still had a full house.
“It’s really fun,” says Jessica. “It was wonderful,” a female voice shouts in the background. A male guest joins her. “Next year again.”