Family Dinner

You know that scene in The Waltons where the whole family is sitting there having some delicious dinner that Grandma and Ma spent the whole day cooking (while they were canning, feeding the chickens, hanging out the wash and walking a mile into Godsey's store)? I used to love that. It was my favorite part... all of the kids and their spouses sitting down together to eat. Of course they all lived at home so it made it pretty easy.
With Matt and Sam now married and starting their own families and Carl's social life, there is way too much room around our dinner table. So I started a brand new tradition - Family Dinner. Each month on the fourth Sunday everyone comes "home" for Sunday dinner. I love it. We all sit together at the table for dinner and dessert and catch up on what's going on in each other's lives. Then after dinner we sit and chat and watch Andrew and Terry play.
Sometimes it is elaborate (meat and potatoes type dinner) and sometimes it's simple like tonight's minestrone soup and cornbread. But it is always seasoned well with love, sprinkled with teasing, and tossed with laughter. It is a tradition I hope to carry on for many, many years (although we are going to need a new leaf for the table!).