Family Alive

I dream of the quintessential family dinner around our table.  Good, healthy, home-cooked meal, one of my kids praying before we eat, everyone happy, food staying on plates, everyone actually eating the same food, kids staying at the table with us – peacefully – until they’re done.  And maybe even a delicous family dessert to top it all off.

Sounds great.  And yes, it does sound a bit impossible, especially with a 2 and a 4 year old who may be a bit more lively than most kids.  Dinner has been a growing frustration of mine for any number of reasons… picky 4 year old, messy 2 year old, kids not wanting to sit.

But it happened last night.  My dream family dinner.  It was so lovely, and it was even better than I could have imagined.

I’d cooked (well, half-cooked) a good meal – Mushroom Orzo Rissoto (super easy, very tasty, and even though I don’t like mushrooms, Brian does, and I knew he’d be pleased and they were easy enough for me to pick out) and Turkey Spinach Burgers (frozen from another evening… I love when cooking one night makes another night easier!).

Analise prayed for our meal, which she often isn’t in the mood to do.  But she’s been the “prayer leader” as her job at school this week, so she was excited when we named her the prayer leader for dinner tonight.

We put the burgers, no buns necessary, on the pasta, and it was TASTY.  The kids loved the pasta, and surprise, surprise… Josiah liked the mushrooms!  He ate one after another from my plate.  Seriously, my heart was bursting that one of my kids was liking something I don’t!  Analise even gamely tried a bite.  I was very proud of both of them.

Anyway, everyone was in a good mood, they ate well, we had nice fun conversation with them, and we all stayed at the table through the whole meal.  The kids shared a piece of chocolate cake, and everyone was pleased.

It was wonderful.  I know it’s possible now.  I’m not going to get frustrated and grumpy when it doesn’t happen, though.  They’re just preschoolers, and we’ll work on it bit by bit.  I know it can happen, it will happen when all the stars align, and when it does, it will be lovely and well worth it.