Family Dinners.

We grew up visiting immediate family on Sundays

at our weekly Family Dinners. I loved coming in to

to a noisy, warm house, with the smell of baking and

dinner waiting for us. Laughter reined. Home. Love.

Then we moved away when I was 12 years old

and all of that stopped. We had a nice dining

room but no family to come over. Our journey

had taken us to a whole province away and it

was too far to travel just for dinner. No dinners,

no family visits. Two years later, we moved

into a new house we had built and I asked my

mom why we even bothered with a dining

room if it was never going to get used. And

from that point on, even though it was just

us, she made a really lovely Sunday dinner.

I was in heaven, especially when they would

invite friends and neighbors over. It was truly

my favorite time each week. Then we married.

My dh had not grown up with weekly Family

Dinners but he did have a large family that

would get together so the idea of a set day

and time was something he was open to. We

started having our respective family's over

and this grew in to tradition. Over the years,

we have had a number of deaths, and many

moves that took family members to other

parts of Canada. Our family seems smaller

due to age and distance but we still manage

to find ways to gather when we all can. I do

really miss weekly Family Dinners. We have

made a true effort to use our dining room as

much as we can. A calm but fun filled space!

~ Chy