Permission To Observe Thanksgiving

This is such a nice story. Having no one to celebrate Thanksgiving with, a man put an ad in the paper offering to cook for the first twelve respondents. It's become a tradition with a group of regulars--and spread to about 80 people.

No one is turned away, Macaulay says.
"Last year, I had a family show up two hours late," he says. "He had lost his job and they had heard about the dinner and wanted something to eat. And, some of these people might not have anything, but they always find something that they can be grateful for. "
Still, Macaulay says his goal is to never have anybody make a reservation.
"My goal is always to have nobody sign up, 'cause that means everybody's got a place to go and everybody's OK," he says. "And that's what keeps me going 25 years later."

So lovely, and so filled with what we want America to be: neighborly, warm, brimming with can-do spirit-- that I hesitate to even point out this sour note.

Also, the health inspector required him to get a permit to serve food this Thanksgiving.

Isn't that outrageous? Why on earth is it the government's business if a bunch of consenting adults want to eat our national feast together? 

Curtsy: Ann Althouse via F&F.