The Family Table, a Labor Day Weekend Tradition ~A Parenting Post

"...Who, day & night, must scramble for a living,

Feed a wife & children, say his daily prayers?...

...Who must know the way to make a proper home?

A quiet home?  A kosher home?

Who must raise the family & run the home?...

...TRADITION!  TRADITION!  TRADITION!"

There can be no doubt that traditions provide security.  They are often statements that speak to the worldview & belief system of the home/family/community.

I have mentioned several times in this blog the idea that sometimes the best traditions are those that sprout up organically.  I did a post about our 'Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Ice Fishing Weekend' tradition:  http://carmelhillbillies.blogspot.com/2014/01/creating-special-maine-post-family-post.html

We just celebrated a similar, organic tradition.

This is the 6th year we have had a Labor Day Weekend Sunday night backyard campout followed by a Monday morning 'restaurant' for breakfast!  

I can't explain how it started I can only say that this is the sort of thing we have to offer as a family.  This is an accurate example of the type of life Kevin & I have built for the kids.  We love family time.  We play a lot of games as a family.  Read books as a family.  Bike & hike & kayak & canoe & fish & camp as a family.  Watch movies as a family.  Volunteer & work as a family.  Shared experiences & family togetherness are high on our priority list.  This tradition is so simple.  Silly really.  But it sprouted up out of love & a desire to make something fun & surprising & exciting for a 6 year old & an 8 year old & a 9 year old and it grew into what we expect and something to feel secure about, knowing that this will happen, we will do this and in the end it is a statement of Family Fun & Togetherness.

And this year those three children, ages 6, 8 & 9, have grown into two children at home, ages 11 & 13.  Hurdle #1 to our warm, fuzzy-feeling tradition:  My stepdaughter, age 14, no longer lives with us.  She knows she is welcome to join us any and/or every day for any reason, for as long as she would like to!  We sure miss her!  But for now she has chosen not to.  I admit when I dug out the past 'restaurant' menus that the tears slid down my face as I remembered the very good times when she was here, (like past Labor Day Weekends), and felt so sad that she wouldn't be joining us this year.  Hurdle #2:  Noelle & Micah were flying home from Texas the Sunday night of Labor Day Weekend.  So we decided to make the camp out Monday night & do the breakfast on Tuesday.  Then their flights got changed & they ended up not arriving home until dark on Monday.  We decided to scratch the 'camping out' part & just do the breakfast!  Micah slept upstairs in Noelle's room, so it still felt like a cozy sleepover for them, but they were both very tired from a vacation in Texas and a long day of travel.

Two-Part Tradition:  

#1:  Camp Out!

Sometimes this has meant in tents, but we've also tried the trampoline & in the play house!!

We have often coupled 'fun things' with the annual camp out:  Drive In movie, campfire, game night, Free Day to Play, etc.

#2:  'Restaurant' Breakfast

This means that when they come inside in the morning, the table is set & pretty & there are menus!!  By the second year we started calling our Labor Day restaurant 'The Family Table.'  

Junky food that is normally not in our home, like pop tarts & toaster strudel appears on these menus!

How fun is it to get to order a meal at home!?  Mom  The Waitress takes the order & takes it in the kitchen to Mom The Cook who prepares it!!  

Sometimes The Family Table provides crayons & things to do while you wait for your order!

And then... the food arrives!!!  (Usually a bit at a time!!!)

I imagine that someday when, Lord willing, my grandchildren visit~

~we may have a camp out & a surprise 'restaurant' breakfast!  

And perhaps even when the 11 & 13 year olds become high schoolers & college students & real, bona fide adults (!) visiting their Marmee, they may rise from their slumber to see menus on the table.

The Family Table.

And memories will rush back as warm as the eggs they are about to be served!

'The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table.'