Sunday is a special
day. It is a day filled with memories.
When I was a child,
Sunday was when we wore our nicest clothes and shoes,
all pressed and mended and shined, and tried to remember our
company manners. We set the table with our
most beautiful linens and china and feasted
on the most delectable foods we could afford. It wasn’t
a way of showing off, but a way of showing respect. We honored
God with the highest quality of what we had to offer.
When we celebrate a
special day – Easter, Christmas, or an anniversary –
we mark the day with special foods. From
that moment on we associate our favorite flavors with those
events. Long after the holidays have passed we still remember
the scents, smells and aromas. And year after
year, we relish with anticipation those savory flavors as,
once again, that distinctive time approaches. A graduation,
a birthday or notable achievement; a baptisms,
a dedication, a child’s confirmation, special
awards, or scouting honor offer unequaled moments
in time to express our appreciation and deepen our ties. A
meal set aside to mark such an occasion sets the time apart
as something worth remembering.
I was fortunate to
grow up near an extended family. While we were still young,
my mother, my two sisters, brother and I would spend Sunday
afternoons at our grand parents. Our cousins, aunts,
uncles gathered often at my grandmother’s house, where
the table was always properly set. Birthdays
and special occasions like Memorial Day and Mother’s
Day became long expected and long-remembered reunions.
Like the bright stones of a mosaic our family
life became a photo album of memories.
My
grandmother did most of the cooking, helped
by my sisters, my mother, and myself. We’d all help
set the table and do the dishes. My mother was also an excellent
cook – but no one could prepare those simple understated
meals like my grandmother. My grandmother was a pioneer.
Raised in the heart of Texas, her mother’s family
was born of Scots-Irish settlers and her
father’s family from the Eastern Cherokee Nation. My
grandfather hailed from Virginia. Our table was mostly southern
in influence: Black-eyed peas and corn bread for
good luck on New Years day and baked ham for Easter. Still
we enjoyed many other dishes that stand today as truly American
classics.
Indeed the traditional
Sunday dinner is a bounty of modest foods
– plentiful dishes that are relatively easy to prepare.
These are the scrumptious traditional meals with roots
in the rich aromas and national flavors our grandparents,
parents, or great grandparents brought to this country. Over
time those heirloom recipes have been adapted
using the indigenous ingredients found on our American soil.
Adapted, and improved with age.
Sunday
can be become the most important day of the week for our children.
Sunday is a fun day to meet new people, to have friends and
cousins over and to be good hosts, whether
enjoying the laughter and frolic seated at
their own table with other children or seated at the big table
with adults.
Not all of
us have large families living near by. Ours is a
mobile society. Some are only children, our
parents have passed on, or perhaps the miles and years that
often separate us from those we love have grown too far. Extended
families once only meant relations by birth. Our church
family is an extended family. Our neighbors
are an extended family. Our coworkers are
an extended family.
Our new extended
families develop into the kind of relationships once
reserved for those related by birth - families with whom we
spend time, take vacations with, and with
whom we celebrate special occasions. These are the friendships
that endure through challenge and triumph. Today many of our
children’s closest friends are those with whom we’ve
enjoyed sharing Sunday dinner. Sunday dinner is where
it all began – nurturing an investment far
beyond any earthly value.
Planning special
Sunday celebrations at home shows how much we truly
care while we build the traditions which add luster and color
to this mosaic we call family. All too often
the weekdays are so hectic preparing that special meal is
out of the question. Family members too distant for a day’s
drive are pressed for time. Sunday is a prefect time
for family to gather together in celebration – and extend
the festivities as well!
Sunday
dinner is a touchstone to our past. The Sunday
dinner table is steppingstone on which to build memories
and to weave our lives together – a place to share,
a place to grow. We not only say the day
is special, but it is special because we are joined together
with those we love and cherish most.
Indeed, Sunday
dinner is like having Thanksgiving every week –
where we see God’s blessings, His bounty, and our love
shared in the efforts, gifts, and careful preparation. The
Sunday table is a place for building memories - the
treasured memories for a lifetime.
