Bringing Sunday Family Dinner Back
Sunday's are for church, football, bbq's, crawfish boils, and family time. We get a sense of connection when we are together with our families. Whether it is through blood relation or friends who we consider family.
Growing up, Sunday's meant family brunch. My mom would cook a feast of every kind of brunch style food you could think of. It was my most favorite day. We could all connect. We could all be together. Food seems to taste so much better with the presence of the people we love. Not to mention a great excuse to bring everyone together.
Sunday dinner was even better. I always sat and watched my mom cook. Since I was little, as far back as I could remember, I would sit in the kitchen and watch my mom cook. Soaking in all the yummy smells and watching her as she intuitively knew what ingredients went well with each dish. It was her creative outlet, that later became my own.
Around the globe, families drive from all over to eat meals and to be together. People purposely making family dinner a priority over other outings. Whether it was a whole day spent together or just a few hours, those hours were spent over love and laughter. Family bonds strengthened. New memories made. Younger ones play together creating their own memories. Their identities growing, while sitting with their loved ones talking about different stories, friends, school, or different hobbies. Character being built little by little.
Now, family dinners are usually built on holidays, birthdays, weddings, showers, or funerals. Sometimes that isn't even the case. I know I am guilty of it. Life moves fast. Too fast. We are all so busy now. There is always something else going on. There is always something that takes up the time of family time. Slowly and slowly we are losing our sense of connection with our family.
For my husband and I, we try to make a habit out of having a family dinner every Sunday as the three of us. It's special. It's special for us as a family to have the time together to be present with one another. To reiterate how blessed and how grateful we are to have this time together. To be able to reconnect before the crazy week starts all over again when we don't get to share many evenings together all at the same time. We get that chance to show our daughter how important it is to have this time together. To connect with her and talk to her about her day. She tells us stories. We laugh. We dance.
We love each other that much more in that very moment.
Life is getting shorter as we know it. Why not keep up the tradition of a family dinner night? It doesn't have to be every week. Maybe once a month or twice a month if you invite others outside of your immediate family. Maybe even a Monday night or a Wednesday night. Breakfast or Lunch.
Point is, family time truly can be the best time if we choose our time wisely. We won't be able to get to share these moments for the rest of our lives. Embrace these moments. Embrace our time. Time runs out quicker than we know.
A few things to remember:
1. Plan ahead. Mark it on the calendar what day/night works best and stick with it.
2. You don't have to get all crazy with cooking. Some people don't enjoy cooking and that's okay. It also doesn't matter what you cook. Some days we have salad with mac n cheese. Others we have salad with chicken, veggies, and loaded potatoes with some dessert.
3. Family does not have to be limited. Invite friends, neighbors, co-workers, or acquaintances.
4. Leave phones and electronics far away from the table. No distractions. This may frighten some people. Embrace this short period of time. I promise you, the phone will always be there when you get back.
Let's bring family dinners back y'all! Set some time aside to be with the ones you love (even if they tend to irritate you at times- that's what family is for right?!). Connections are good for the soul. Relationships are good for the soul.
Now get out there and plan!