Although we are not known for being fussy eaters and have eaten some VERY crazy casseroles to prove it, we generally allow no complaining about the food served at the table.In the first week of our marriage my husband learned that we would eat whatever I served and we would eat it at the Dinner Table, every night.This has led to some good family discussions on many different topics.The most common one is Politics and I can assure you,the coverage is not fair or balanced!
We sometimes talk about religion and as I write this I realize that it would be wise to bring this up more often while we have a captive audience.We could delve more into the reasons WHY we believe what we do . Many Catholics do not understand the thinking and the wisdom behind our Faith, and it can be too easily abandoned if it is not processed at a deeper level for each individual. These reasons are sometimes touched on when we mention celebrity gossip. Larry loves history and we have had some great discussions on Civil War Battles.We also talk about sports and what the Redskins' chances are in that week's game.The girls will tell us which horses they rode and how they (the horses!) behaved. In the past, I have brought up discipline problems that we are dealing with in our school day,but this has led to a very negative atmosphere and it is better left for immediately after dinner. There are some words and topics that are absolutely not allowed at the table and if they are uttered the offender is hastily and vehemently reminded before we all loose our appetites.The word most often found in this category is" blood". Yuch! Other no-no's are sick or dead animals, surgery or trauma of any kind and especially, the gory details of how the deer that we are eating was shot .There are some other behavioral standards that we enforce at the table and these are no blowing one's nose, leaving before everyone is finished or texting. The area that we are surprisingly lax in is gaseous emissions.For some reason this is always considered funny at our dinner table and is always good for a laugh.Maybe we ought to learn a few good jokes instead!
