From ‘floaters’ to family: Strangers bond at Nova Scotia Christmas gathering
BLOCKHOUSE, N.S. — A falconer, a university student from Vietnam, a toddler and miniature horse gathered around the Christmas tree at a farmhouse in Nova Scotia for a turkey dinner shared by ten near strangers who found you don’t need to be with family to feel like you belong.
In seasons past, Patty McGill thought of herself as a Christmas “floater” — her children and grandchildren live in Quebec — leaving the 63-year-old matriarch with no one to feed during the holidays except the horses on her farm in the Lunenberg area on Nova Scotia’s south shore.
Fearing her Yuletide delicacies would go to waste, McGill decided to share her Christmas dinner with strangers in the same boat as her. She had a friend post an invitation on social media offering a seat at her dinner table to those unable to spend the holidays with their families, and once news outlets caught wind of the gathering, the RSVPs started pouring in.
As Chuck DeCoste pulled into the driveway of Hinchinbrook Farms in Blockhouse, N.S., accompanied by two people he barely knew in his electric blue, eagle-emblemed Jeep, he was unsure what the Christmas Day celebration had in store.