Star,
I was reading some of the older postings and I thought this was wonderful. This is how my kitchen is, it's kitchen and dining room combined with not alot of room. And although we do end up eating in the living room most times, it is still family time because we are together. My husband has been with his workplace for almost 7 years. About 3 years ago, he joined a training program, which made his schedule very hectic. He may work days for 2 weeks, then suddenly work nights for 3 or 4 weeks, and then just as suddenly be switched to weekends for an undetermined amount of time. This was very hard on our family, especially our children. Their daddy missed meals, ball games, bedtime stories etc. So he switched to a different position and went on 2nd shift. This also took awhile to adjust to. But we managed. It meant having our "supper" at 3:30 in the afternoon, but that's what we did to be able to have one meal a day together. It's been 2 years since he started 2nd shift (4:45pm-1:15am). But on Jan 27, he is switching back to first shift and we are all very excited! It means alot to me to be able to spend time together, it doesn't matter what we're doing as long as we can say at the end of the day that we were a bonded family today. The only time we have is right now, the present moment. And we never know what tomorrw will bring. I think we all sometimes take our families, friends, and loved ones for granted, assuming they'll always be there. And so many people say I'm too busy to make a call, or too busy to really conect with someone. But as I'm watching my children grow up so fast, I appreciate more and more the time I have with them, and with my wonderful husband, and family and friends. I never want any task to keep me so busy that I can't take some time for the ones I love every day...nothing is more important in this world. I read in a magazine once that a woman was overwhelmed with all the tasks in her daily life, that she just didn't feel much joy. And she decided to start doing the things that make her happy instead of worrying about all the little mundane things she had to get done, because all those things would still be there the next time she went to do them!
Thank you for sharing how you spend dinner time with your family. I can't wait to be able to have regular meals with all of my family togehter again!!
Have a great day!