Sunday Lunch

Growing up Sunday meant going to church and then going to my Grandparents for lunch. All three of their children and their families would be there, every Sunday.

Of course lunch always consisted of lots of yummy home cooked goodies complete with one or more desserts. Did I mention we all stayed and then had dinner together, too? Dinner consisted of whatever was left over from lunch and if it was summer might include homemade ice cream. Unfortunately the ice cream tended to be a fruit flavor and I don't like fruit in my ice cream so I didn't eat a lot of ice cream but there was usually some other dessert left from lunch that I liked so it wasn't so bad.

After lunch, we would all spend the day just hanging out together. OK the "men" watched a lot of sports, everyone read the paper and dozed and the kids all played together either upstairs or out on the farm.

Sometimes the whole family would go for a walk down in the woods on the back of the property. I always enjoyed these occasions as they usually included my grandparents telling the history of the family and the land. And they included playing in the creek and looking for wildlife. Other times we would play bat mitten or croquet or tennis together as a family. And on easter we would always go visit the cemeteries to place/pick up flowers. Of course this also included more family history lessons.

One of these Sunday Lunches is where I learned that chickens on a farm really can't be a true pet. But family time and history were wonderful.

Sunday Lunch was one of the things I missed most about home when I went to college. It is was all that I knew. When Michael and I married we started the tradition with his parents. OK we don't spend the whole day there and eat dinner there, but most Sundays we do have lunch together. Sometimes it is home cooked sometimes it is out. But it still is what makes Sunday feel like Sunday to me.

So on the few Sundays a year we don't have lunch with Michael's parents and we don't go out. It seems wrong to end up having sandwiches and chips. That is not Sunday Lunch! That is what happened last Sunday. I worked (at church). Rehm had a baseball game (not normal) and Michael and the rest of the kids went to it. Michael's parents had something else to do. On the way home from church I called Michael to ask what the lunch play was. He said "sandwiches."
I have to say I was disappointed. That just doesn't constitute Sunday Lunch in my world. I said as much and got treated to Chuy's for dinner.

I hope this is a tradition that carries on for many more generations in my family. It is one that definitely left a huge impression on me and I hope it does the same for my children.