Sunday, November 14, 2010

Remembering Suppertime When They Were Little

Unemployed Family around the Dinner Table


Over the course of more than 2 decades of marriage, I have loved every moment of being a wife and mother. We had times of riches and times of poverty. My husband worked hard to provide for us and I stayed at home. I love being a homemaker. It was something I wanted to do ever since I was a little girl. I would stare off, dreamily and think, "Someday I will be Mrs. Somebody. I can't wait to be a housewife and mother." Those were (and are) my only goals in life. I am still more than delighted with my life at home.

It is different, however, when the children are growing up. Some have already moved out and it gets lonely when there is no sound of little feet running around, and no giggling noises coming from the other room. I miss making an adventure out of everything we did. I miss the excitement in little faces who adored me. I miss suppertime with highchairs, and extra books to hold toddlers in place. I miss innocent smiles from little treasures.

In times like these, I dearly long for grandchildren! But while I am waiting, I will remember some of the days of long ago.

My favorite time is always suppertime because everyone is all together at the end of the day and enjoying a home-cooked meal.  I enjoyed inventing recipes in order to be creative and make the food budget stretch. One night, I made up a Rice Chex Meatloaf. I first made this 18 years ago. We had company over and I still remember the look on the face of our guest when I told him what was in the meatloaf. He loved it!  A few weeks ago, I made this again. My family still enjoys it. Here is what I did:

Put three pounds of ground burger in a mixing bowl.

Crumble up several handfuls of Rice Chex Cereal. Add to the burger.

Pour one fourth of a bottle of bbq sauce over this.

Mix well.

Divide into two loaf pans.  Pat down to fit the pan evenly.

Cover both pans with aluminum foil. Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours or until fully cooked. Then pour a little more bbq sauce over the top and let sit in oven for a few more minutes to warm.

Serve with potatoes, stuffing, peas and biscuits and your family will feel like it is thanksgiving!

I cannot stress enough how important supper time is to the family. Since my children are older and busy with outside acitivites, it breaks my heart when we cannot always sit down together for a meal. So I do my best to make food for them to re-heat later. I want them to look forward to Mama's cooking and not rely on take-out. I want them to be excited about what Mama is cooking at home!

I love to set the table with pretty dishes, silverware and cups. I love to put out extra serving bowls so it looks like we have plenty to eat!  I remember having the children help me set the table. They were always so proud of themselves. Everyone always looked forward to the evening meal! It was always an event!

Whenever I can, I like to bake muffins, cake, brownies and cookies. I want everyone to know that there is always soemthing good in Mother's kitchen.

Now, if only I will be blessed with grandbabies!



Blessings
Mrs. White

The Hard Days - Chronically Ill Homeschooling Mothers

Real Life - Loving Homemaking with Children

The Rough Times - Trouble with Teenagers


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3 comments:

Taryn said...

Four years ago I didn't have any grandchildren. Now I(55) have 4 granddaughters and another grandbaby on the way(my third son's wife is with child!- the King James Bible says "with child"-I like that). Aliyah(9m.) lives with me and Hannah(2) lives downstairs(a two-door/family house). Reagan(18m) lives in the same town and I watch them Mon.-Fri.(and homeschool our son(17)). Hannah and Reagan call me "mom" because that's what my 6 children call me.Recently I went to Walmart with my second son(Hannah's father) and Hannah- she was calling me "mom". My son paid first. When I paid, the cashier whispered,"You're the grandmother, right?" Yesterday Hannah yelled,"Bye, Granma!" We all were excited- you should have seen her smile.

Catherine (Alecat Music) said...

(smiles) I just wrote a post up yesterday about sharing time at the meal table. Lots of good memories there from my childhood.

My parents now have 16 grandchildren. I'm sure there'll be more to come, too. :)

Beth West www.northernskyart.wordpress.com said...

Changing the topic ;) I just found a picture of you and some of your new friends here:
http://www.thestoriesofa2z.com/search?updated-max=2010-11-10T11%3A04%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=4
It looks like you ladies had a good time.