Setting the Table

I apologize that this post is a day late. I was having trouble uploading the photos I wanted to include yesterday. . .

I agree with Barb whole-heartedly about mealtime and the importance it has in the development of the family. I am a product of a family that ate together. Isn’t it funny that sometimes we need studies to tell us what is productive for our families when if we would just stop and think we could have figured it out for ourselves-common sense really. If we spend time sitting down, eating as a family will we just not naturally talk about life issues? Isn’t it more difficult to hide having a bad day if you have to sit and talk with your family? Doesn’t it make more sense that sitting down eating, laughing and talking would improve your family’s relationships? This is what I want for my family.

I want my girls to have fond memories of our time around the table. I want to provide a place where they feel safe to talk and share their feelings. I want to provide an environment where they feel I have thought about them. That is why my girls will often wake up to a decorated table in the morning that will stay that way throughout the day.

I decided early on with young children that cooking was not my strength. I can cook, but I don’t like it. I make a few things well, but I do not like to try new things, but I do love to entertain. I love to decorate a table and make my guests feel like they are important and that I am glad they are in my home. I decided that this is how I want my girls to feel, so for holidays and just-because days I will decorate the breakfast table(I do not do this everyday). I love to see their faces light up when they drag their sleepy bodies down the stairs for breakfast to see the table decorated just for them. Sometimes I go all out and other times it is just simple little things that let them know I was thinking about them. An added bonus that I have noticed is when they invite someone for a playdate they want to help set the table to make their guest feel welcome and loved. (Abigail helped decorate the bags in the photo below).

I think a lot can be taught around the kitchen table. My hope is to share my love of entertaining with my girls in a way that will make them feel even more special than the guests that enter my home. My hope is that our kitchen table will always be a safe place where we come together as a family to reconnect. I don’t think it takes that much to make that happen. We just need to be intentional!