We (at Rocky's) do NOT do a Christmas dinner.
In the past we have done a new years eve dinner and after that is when we give out all of the gifts to the needy children. Those gifts are purchased with the profit from thanksgiving dinner and any donations that people offer. However, thanksgiving had two large group reservations of 8 people each that did not even bother to show up. Also a couple of smaller reservations did not show either. This caused us to run at a loss because of the extra food we had purchased and prepared cost money and of course we did not have the income from the dinners for the reservations that screwed us.
Its really sad honestly. I was really looking forward to keeping the tradition alive. However, I had to pay the loss for thanksgiving, so I am really not wanting to dig into my own pocket further and be the only person buying gifts even if it is for a good cause. So...... unless something changes and we get a some donations or something, I will likely have to cancel the gifting tradition this year as well. Makes me quite sad...... and perhaps a bit sick to the stomach. People can really let you down hard.....