Dinner Time With the Family

Time spent with the family as a whole is a rare and fleeting idea. I hear stories often about families that have dinner separately, in their own rooms or in front of the television separate from each other. When do they talk, find out what’s going on in each others lives, and just get to know each other, especially as the children are growing and changing daily?

One tradition my mother has kept is having a family dinner once a week with everyone. My younger brother comes with his fiancé, my little sister, my grandmothers, grandfathers, dad, and my husband and our children. We have four generations that gather together and break bread. It is such a wonderful way for us to take time out of our busy schedules, slow down, and enjoy precious time that we will never get back. I enjoy hearing the stories my grandma tells when my daughter asks her questions about growing up. I love listening to my brother’s expertise on wine, or what his feelings are on the latest movie to come out. My sister is in college, so hearing her frustrations about classes and tests warms my heart and makes me wish I was back at school again, taking better advantage of it this time than I did the last time. My dad always has a funny anecdote or story to tell, and if we are really lucky, he has been practicing on a card trick to share with us. And then there is my mom. She always makes the meal, and tries to cater to everyone’s likes and dislikes, humoring the vegetarians and the meat eaters, so we all will go away filled. She refuses to serve us on paper plates, although it would make her evening so much easier. She always wants to make it feel special by having us eat on glass plates or the china. There are always candles lit and soft music playing on the radio to give a warm atmosphere, a feeling of home and love. I cherish these weekly meals, this time around the dining room table eating, laughing and bonding together. I believe these will be wonderful memories for my children, having dinner with not only their grandparents, but their great-grandparents also. Not every child is so lucky, and not every parent is so lucky as to see this sweet exchange.

Family dinner used to be a given, not even a slight thought leaned in the direction of eating apart. But now, many families consider themselves lucky if they can have one sit down meal together a month because everyone’s schedule is so crazy and seems to take precedence over family time. I’m lucky because my husband and I made the conscience decision to have family meals with our children nightly, no matter what, and they don’t know any different. And then once a week we are blessed enough to have a generational meal, a meal shared with loved ones, and time we can never get back.