Spiritual Food

Food for me doesn't generally have anything particularly spiritual about it. I like food connected with holidays or special events or going out to eat, and I certainly like good food, but in general eating is just something I have to make time to do every so often.
One time, though, I would say that a meal took on something of spiritual dimensions for me. It was several years ago when my family, aunt and uncle, and cousins were all at my aunt's house for Christmas Eve dinner. The previous year had been very difficult for all of us. We had had several deaths in the family, one of which was extremely unexpected. It was an awkward Christmas and we were all uncertain how to act or feel or talk about what had happened.
My aunt had turned off all the lights in the dining room and adjoining living room and it was dark outside, so the only light was the backlight from the kitchen and the glow of the candles. Candlelight, of course, has long been credited with setting moods. We were all quiet that evening. My family doesn't tend to talk a lot during meals, but right then we were all completely silent. Maybe it was the combination of the candlelight and the silence that made me think about how lucky we were to be together right then in that moment, sharing a meal. We had already lost some and would someday surely use more--- not to death, but to marriages and jobs and just life taking us in different directions. We were all growing older and who knew how many years we would be able to come together for the holidays. Someday we would part ways and only connect with each other through family reunions (when we could come) and perhaps the occasional phone call.
For just that moment though, we were all together, in spite of the past year, sitting in the candlelight and eating together. And it was a spiritual experience in a way because it struck me how unsettled life is and how grateful we should all be to come together for just a little while. Separate paths joining for just a little while before parting again. That's what I think is beautiful about the holidays, particularly Christmas and Thanksgiving and why I'm always so horrified when I hear of people doing nothing for them. For me there is something sacred about them because they allow people to connect again, for just a little while, before going on their way in the world.