Sunday Dinners

"I didn't grow up in a family with a ton of family traditions" As I wrote this, I thought to myself that maybe I did have family traditions.  I thought about breakfast every morning.  Waffles, pancakes, omelets with all the fixings.  Sunday was always fresh bagels.  Family dinner with friends.  Always lots of friends and sometimes friends of friends or maybe even strangers.  Anyone who needed a place to stay, eat or celebrate a holiday was invited into our home to eat and be a part of the family.  

I looked to Danny and said, "My family didn't have many traditions?" and he laughed.  He said my family was the epitome of tradition and mentioned all the dinners.  The little saucer plates, the countless parties, the tables set up in the backyard with matching tablecloths.

So of all the things we have carried on from my parents it is Sunday dinners.  We always went to my parents on Sunday for a feast.  We sat in the backyard, the kids played and we talked and talked.  Pete came, my sisters family came and it was a great night.  The kids would go home with their stomachs full of ice cream sundaes and a bag full of candy from the ever stocked pantry.

Somehow, in our own way, we have carried on that tradition.  We don't have the backyard they had. We don't make the extravagant meals.  We don't have an outside table but we have great friends, an awesome court, trampoline that fills our entire backyard and always enough food.  We have friends over almost every Sunday.  Since we have 6 kids and most of our friends have multiple kids, the house is usually loud and filled but it is always a good time!  We do buffet style.  Set out plates, put forks and knives upside down in some mason jars, have lemonade and water.  We make it simple.  We have a couple of dishes we seem to rotate.  Meat and potatoes, some type of chicken dish, mexican and fajitas are frequent.  People usually come at 5 and bring a dessert or salad.  We hang til 830 or so talking while the kids play. 

  It is always a good time.  There is something about having people over for dinner that strengthens friendships.  So the tradition of food and friends live on.  On Sunday our kids always wake up and ask who is coming over.  We have our close friends and then we mix in friends we want to get to know better or friends who we haven't seen in a while but want to.  It often just depends on who we talk to that week randomly.  It is usually not planned a ton in advance.  Sometimes we just talk to people that day or the day before. 

I am by no means a great host but that is the beauty of it.  It is simple, it is wonderful and always a great time!  I want to take more pictures but have been so bad at it lately.  I am trying to journal more hence the couple of posts today and last night.  This is my only journal and I have gone months without journaling.  Now I am going to try to take more pictures to remember the great times.  

Last weekend we had over the Needhams, Olsons, Nielsens and Kurz's.  Brittons dad came over with ice cream sunday supplies.  I loved it.  It was a great surprise.  Britton was sick and his mom was out of town so his dad came.  I love that people want to come.  Don't feel like they are imposing but instead feel like they are welcome and know how we think the more, the merrier.  Today we had over the Popes.  I texted Kristy to ask her husband something about work and then realized how much I wanted to actually hang out with her and talk to her instead of just a couple of minutes here or there. It was a great time!  

I am grateful for my parents and the tradition of Sunday dinners that they passed onto us.  It is a great blessing!