Family dinnertime

Our family has always made a point of having dinner together.  It certainly is not 100% of the time, that simply isn't possible, but we do the best we can.  Even on evenings when we might be gathered around the TV during dinner (rarely, usually it happens on a Friday or Saturday evening) we are in the same room watching a DVD or sporting event together.   There is nothing better than dinner with my family!  There were times during the fall and winter that it just wasn't possible with Robert's schedule.  A couple of days a week during the fall he wasn't home until 9:00 or later and that just won't work for the younger two.  And during the winter it was sometimes tough to squeeze it in between Thomas getting off the bus at 4:30 and Robert having to be out the door at 5:10 for dive practice (on the nights that he was able to come home and wasn't at school until 7:30) but usually we managed to do so because we felt it was important.  We have absolutely fabulous family conversations during this time and I'm so grateful that we can.

Track season is wonderful because until the meets begin, everyone is home by 5:15, and we are home for the evening, generally speaking.  Dinner isn't rushed (although even that is better than not eating together) and we are enjoying our time together.  The other evening actually impressed me.  I had a meeting that evening so dinner was a squeeze in, and I informed everyone they were on their own.  That does at times lead to us not all eating together, but that wasn't the case Tuesday.  There were plenty of leftovers which meant lots of reheating, but everyone worked together...and everyone hung out in the kitchen.  It meant Andrew and I actually ate standing up at the counter, but we were all together.  We were still able to have our great conversations and everyone shared parts of their days.  Andrew and I commented later how much we enjoyed everyone making it a point to hang out together, at least for a few minutes.  It's such a huge blessing!