LCES students issue invites for Thanksgiving

In observance of Thanksgiving, we asked the fourth and fifth-graders at LCES to address the question, "If you could invite any one person to Thanksgiving dinner, who would it be and why?"

The students' choices ranged from sports heroes to pop stars. Nevertheless, the predominant answers dealt with grandparents who had passed away. The sadness expressed in some of these writings was palpable.

On a lighter note, the responses also showed a great deal of creativity, humor, and love and concern for others.

A sampling of the answers is as follows:

Brandtlyn Harris: "If I could invite a person to my Thanksgiving dinner, it would be Knowshon Moreno. I think all of my friends would dash over to my house. I hope he'd love turkey because we stock up on turkey."

Mitch Matthews: "If I could have Thanksgiving with anyone, it would be Harrison Ford. Maybe he could bring his whip from Indiana Jones. He might even bring the gun from Han Solo off of Star Wars. I think he is very cool. He would be the hit of the day."

Melik Beard: "If I could invite a person to our Thanksgiving dinner, it would be my brother, Donte Zellars, because he is in the Marines in California. He works so hard every day. He calls and asks what we are doing.

"I want my brother to come to our Thanksgiving dinner because he's my brother. That's who I would invite to our best Thanksgiving dinner."

Steven Swift: "I would invite the Pilgrims. They were the first to invent Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims would eat most of it. I would be cool to eat with the Pilgrims."

Sakeya Leverett: "If I could invite anyone to my Thanksgiving dinner, I would invite Beyonce Knowles. I would choose her because when I was a little girl, I always wanted to meet her and be like her when I grew up.

"When she got there, I would tell the people, that I hired, to play the violin for her, and I would have a special seat for her.

"I would serve turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, lobster, and dressing, and for dessert, I would serve cake, pie, strawberry shortcake, and ice cream."

Thomas Remsen: "If I could invite one person to Thanksgiving dinner, it would be my great-grandpa (Daddy Fat). I would invite him because I have never met him. He died right before I was born.

"We would eat turkey, gravy, potatoes, green beans, and pie."

Delexica Durham: "If I could invite anyone I want to Thanksgiving dinner, I would invite Mrs. (Julia) Leverett. Mrs. Leverett is my fifthgrade teacher at LCES. She is a true inspiration. She has taught 32 years. Now, she is teaching me.

"On Thanksgiving day, my family will have Thanksgiving dinner at my grandma's house also known as 'Dianne's Café.' The menu will be chocolate, chicken, turkey and dressing, and green beans, and the dessert is going to be cake, sweet potato pie, and Jell-O."

Alli Etheridge: "If I could have someone over for Thanksgiving dinner, it would be Squanto. I've always wanted to meet a Native American. Also, he knows English. So that means we could talk.

"I wonder what foods he would eat. I bet he wouldn't like our food. I wouldn't like his food either. But, who knows?"

Thomas Mattison: "If I could invite any one person to Thanksgiving dinner, it would be Mama Ruth because she is my special relative. I love her very much.

"She is 88 years old and is in a nursing home, so I don't see her that often. She has memory loss and can't remember things well.

"I bet she'd remember the greatest Thanksgiving ever!"

Jared Wright: "If I could invite someone to Thanksgiving dinner, it would be Alex Rodriguez. He is my favorite baseball player.

"If I could sit by him at Thanksgiving, it would be a dream come true. Then, I could go outside and play baseball with him. Finally, he could take me to Yankee Stadium since his team is the New York Yankees."

Presley Partridge: "If I could invite a famous person to my Thanksgiving, I would invite Elvis Presley because my dad loves Elvis, and Presley is my first name.

"We have about four Elvis ornaments for our tree. We have a lot of his CDs, and we also have a plate with Elvis on it. So you can tell that we love Elvis Presley.

"If he came, we would have all of his favorite food, even if it was tacos. But we would really rather have turkey, cranberry sauce, and other stuff.

"He would be able to meet my whole family. And my dad, oh, he might freak! It would be the best Thanksgiving ever!!!"

Zia Williamson: "If I could invite anybody to Thanksgiving dinner, it would be my Aunt Lauren who's in college.

"She is funny and makes me want to laugh my head off. She tells the funniest jokes in the world.

"She's planning on becoming a vet.

"She is one of the nicest people I know."

Gabrielle Matlock: "I would like to have my best friend, Eva, come to my Thanksgiving.

"I know she is about a thousand miles away and on Hawaii, but I have known her since I was five years old and now I'm nine years old. This month is her birthday and she is turning 10.

"We shared everything with each other. Now, she is gone because I've moved. Eva was always there when I needed her.

"I would like Eva to come to my thanksgiving because we're best friends."

Hudson Radford: "If I had a Thanksgiving meal, I would invite Abraham Lincoln because he was the 16th president of our country.

"I would like to meet him so he could tell me about his life. I would tell him my ideas for being president of our country.

"I would like a nice dinner for our Thanksgiving meal. This would be the best Thanksgiving meal ever."

Keshawn Hunter: "If I could invite anyone to Thanksgiving, it would be Sean Taylor.

"He died in 2007. He was my favorite football player. He got shot at his home. I say, 'Why would someone shoot him? He didn't do anything to them.'

"I would invite any football player but he is the one I would pick from all of them."