The reason I ask is because this past Saturday my brother had a dinner at his home and invited my sibling and her husband, my aunt and uncle, their kids, and my cousin and her husband (and me of course). In my family (at least on my dad's side) getting together for family dinners was huge. Granted, we're all getting older now and it doesn't happen so much anymore, but does anyone else remember family get togethers as a mainstay in their life?
I enjoyed the family dinners. We didn't have them often and it's been years since we had a family get to gather. We are the old folks now and the family is too scattered to ever be in one place at the same time.
I remember family dinners or get together mostly when my grandparents were living. They were hugh! Now the younger generation in the family has cook outs at parks or at their homes. Occasionally my second son will invite friends over and cook out at my home. As with Sheldon my immediate family is spread out so it is difficult to get together.
When I was a small child, I remember eating dinner around the table as a family was a nightly occasion,, as well as breakfast and lunch. Then TV came into the picture, and slowly meals were eaten around the tv on trays every day. Or a tv was placed where it could be viewed from the table. Converstions about how your day went came to a halt as everyone became engrossed with what was on tv. I miss that interaction that occured everyday so much.
When I was growing up, both my mother and my dad worked most of the time, and meals were pretty haphazard. If the weather was bad; my dad would usually be out helping to get the electricity back on all over the county since he was a lineman for the power company. My mom helped to run a small neighborhood grocery, and had rental houses, so she was often working late also, Whoever had time, made something to eat, and we just ate whenever we had time, even if it was not all together. Holidays , my grandmother, who lived next door, would make a turkey dinner for Christmas and Thanksgiving. We usually had a big family picnic on Fourth of July. I really enjoyed the big family dinners on holidays. Now, the only family that I am close to is my daughter, and she often works out of town; so we don't really do much celebrating on holidays anymore.
We still have dinners and cook outs with the family. I am planning to cook for the family Easter Sunday. I like to see the family get together and have fun with each other. When I was a kid we didn't really have family dinners.
I'm glad to hear that you are able to get together and celebrate with your family. It really is such a blessing for children. Such a simple thing, yet has such long term benefits for them. I must be hungry because just the mention of cooking for Easter Sunday is making me really hungry right now!
I do have memories of the Holiday Dinners when I was a kid, but later on in life when I looked at the pictures, not one smile looked real. Calling my family dysfunctional would be a compliment but that was years ago. The dinner parties I hosted as an adult were fun affairs and nobody needed to lie or shoot someone down to make themselves feel better.
I'm an only child and what extended family I have has never lived in the same city as I do, so I've never really experienced family dinners of this type except possibly once or twice as a small child while my grandparents were still well. However I would have been so young at the time that I have no memory of such events. As I've never married, I've never had the opportunity to host such meals myself either. It's one of the great regrets of my life that I've never been able to spend much time with family.
Growing up, our family (2 parents, 5 kids) always had dinner together. On Sundays, there were usually extended family over. My maternal grandparents, who had several grown children still living in the same small town, made the rounds, and were at our house every couple of months. Sometimes, the pastor and his family were there for Sunday dinner and, at other times, different aunts and uncles, etc.