Hello! Tim here:
I sat down last night to write my weekly post for Blissfully Domestic’s Blissful Home and I had one thing on my mind when I did. Food. We had just finished a great dinner (thanks, Kim!) and I was still basking in the warmth it brought to my life. 
You can read the post that resulted, all about dining rooms, here.
But it also caused me to stop and think about our family meals together and when I did, I have to say, I was just floored with thankfulness. We’ve been blessed with schedules that allow us to eat all of our evening meals together and many of our lunches and breakfasts, all around our big giant table, which I made out of a pile of lumber.
Kim and I tried to guess at the numbers (I like numbers) and we figure that over the years we’ve had a meal together as a family more than 95% of the time. Each time, we bow our heads together and thank God for our meal. We’ve often prayed for sick family members to feel better, sometimes those family members were of the four-legged or swimming variety.
I guess the point of me writing all of this is just to say how thankful we are that we’ve been able to do this and to encourage anyone who can make adjustments in life’s busy schedule in order to gain that evening meal together that it is so worth it! You’ll never regret it and as the years pass it just becomes more and more precious.
More and more entertaining too now that the boys eat more than me and we have tribal battles every night to decide who gets the most food! My winning record is taking some hits… (but that may not be a bad thing!)
What about you? Does your family gather around the table every night? If not, do you have any tips for those whose schedule just won’t allow it? Let us know in the comments!
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My ‘family’, in our house at least, consists only of my husband and I. We eat dinner together every night. Sometimes, that means eating at 10pm, sometimes midnight, but for us, it is a vital thing to do. We often go through the ritual of sitting at the table, though there are only two of us, because it makes something of the meal. I’m not going to lie though, sometimes we eat on the sofa and watch TV. In our immediate family, we have a big family dinner at least once a month, and have dinner with family members twice a week on average. It’s an important thing, and it allows everyone to ‘ touch base’ in a relaxed atmosphere.
Lisa-Marie’s last blog post..… eats soup, even on sunny days!
I agree Tim, eating together is such a privilege and a blessing! We eat together every single night, and most breakfasts and lunches too. (side benefit of homeschooling) Some of our most precious memories are made around the table!
Amen and Amen – the recent studies on the benefits of eating a shared family meal together is AMAZING! They significantly see kids staying off of drugs, alchohol etc as a direct result of eating together as a family = stability.
Jen@Balancing Beauty and Bedlam’s last blog post..Deals and Steals
I am so glad my parents made it a priority to eat supper together almost every night and we are now eating as a family at least one meal a day. But since we have 4- and 2-year olds mealtimes can tend to be battle grounds on what they will or will not eat! So we’re working on that too! I am working on letting them “help” cook as that seems to get better eating results!
Abbie’s last blog post..Happy Mother’s Day
I definitely agree, Tim….we made it a priority. I have to admit, it has been much harder as our kids have gotten older, and now with juggling work schedules. So now, we make it a point to appreciate it OUT LOUD when we DO get a chance to eat together. Sometimes we have to plan to make it happen, but that’s so worth it, too!
Suzanne
suzanne’s last blog post..Really random thoughts shared on the porch swing
My husband has unusual office hours, so he is not able to eat dinner with us during the week. However, we find our family gathered together at the table for breakfast quite often! Even if we are just eating plain old cereal together, those breakfasts seem to give each of us a good attitude about the day ahead. It is definitely a precious time.
Amy’s last blog post..We DO Live Near a Lake, Y’Know
Wonderful post Tim!
We both grew up in families of 5 kids each that always ate meals together at the table. When we got married we set the same standard even when the kids were toddlers. We eat at the table, say a prayer, no TV, no telephone. Life goes by so fast….Our oldest will be a senior this fall.
I’m grateful mealtime has been a priority over the years. Even if someone doesn’t want to eat (with teens that’s a rarity!) they still have to sit at the table and grace us with their presence!
JanMarie’s last blog post..Happy Birthday Mom!
We make it a priority to eat dinner together every night at our house too. (Except for during little league baseball season. I have four boys, so it gets a little crazy around here!)
Kara’s last blog post..Stawberries & Cream Cake
Thank you for your post on this subject. We are a family of 6. Our most favorite time of the day is dinner so we can sit around the table and enjoy each other’s company. It’s truly a lost tradition in today’s society. There’s so much emphasis on people “doing their own thing” – so sad. Both my husband and I grew up in homes where our Mothers made a point of sitting around the table at mealtime, and we are ever so grateful for their examples. We both hope that our children will carry on what we now think as a tradition rather than something so basic when we were young.
Blessings,
Marie
Marie’s last blog post..nothing is black & white?
I just stumbled upon this blog and I have greatly enjoyed reading through the posts!
Eating is such a tradition in our family as well. Meals are always a time of fellowship. Even if we have to hold dinner hour at a later time than usual to accomodate a work schedule, we still all wait and eat together. In our immediate family (my husband, myself, a one year old and a 4 year old) we always eat dinner together, sometimes at the tiny table in our eat-in kitchen, sometimes on the floor in the livingroom, sometimes on the front porch.. but always together. I hope to maintain this tradition as the children get older.
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WHERE DID YOU GO WE NEED AND UPDATE
We also really appreciate time around the dinner table together as a family. Always a great time to laugh and connect and thank God for His blessings!
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