My children's father and his latest wife don't own a kitchen table. My brain couldn't quite compute this foreign information. It sounded like chinese. I kept saying, "But where do you EAT when you're there?" My children uttered the most horrifying sentence..."We eat in front of the TV." I nearly fainted. How seriously sad is that? I didn't know people actually owned TV trays. I thought that was just something that existed in a make believe world.
Still in shock, I asked, "But what's in the kitchen if there is no table?" They looked puzzled for a moment and said, "Uuhh....a floor, counters, cabinets. You know, kitchen stuff." I said, "But how do you have mealtime discussions if the TV is on?" They don't. They're there 4 days a month and don't even eat dinner together. Madness. Pure madness. Isn't that considered neglect or something? I felt so sad for them, like I needed to hug them and cook for them immediately in an effort to ease their (or maybe my) pain. Actually, they didn't seem like they thought it was a big deal. They'll get it someday. Luckily we were already at the table for dinner when this discussion occurred.
I just can't fathom it. A house isn't a home without a kitchen table. It's the heart of my home. Think of all the family interactions we'd miss out on if not for the kitchen table!
We sit around it and eat dinner as we discuss what we learned at school/ what happened at work, or debate politics, discuss ethical situations, etc. So many interesting and crazy talks have taken place at that table. How would you do that if you were watching television? What would you talk about? The Kardashians? (I don't even know who they are or how it's spelled. I've heard it's some kind of television show. I don't know because I don't watch TV. We don't even have cable or satellite. But that's another story, I just threw it in there for shock value.) What on EARTH is on the TV that is more important than connecting with your loved ones at the end of a long day??
(DISCLAIMER: The following photos were taken over a large span of time. Some are recent, some not. Some were taken with a bad camera, so bear with the low quality photos.)
We discuss homework and study for tests at the kitchen table.
We bake together, cook together, do crafts together,
(I apologize to my husband for referring to this as a "craft". He's teaching Kaylee to make 550 cord bracelets, which is a totally legit guy non-craft activity.)
We play board games and cards, have holiday meals, work on school and 4H projects,
paint our nails, and even color our hair together - all at the kitchen table. Heck, I was even introduced to my chickens at the kitchen table. Frank brought them home in a box and plopped them right down in front of me. I'd just cleaned it, of course. A clean table is a magnet for dirty things like crumbs, spills, and chickens. A good chunk of our memories have occurred right there at the table.
Like my floors, that table is full of history. Imagine all the stories it could tell if it could talk.
Ethan spills egg dye on it every single year. I'm not talking drips, I'm talking PUDDLES. Luckily he has a pretty cool mom.
The look on their faces is PRICELESS! The look on mine probably was, too. What's funny is this happens each year, and each year they get that same look of shock on their faces.
If you look closely you can also see hair dye stains from the time Jess wanted her hair colored Ronald McDonald red. I suck at the whole "being a girl" thing and ended up with most of it everywhere BUT her head. She was a good sport about it, I give her credit!
There was the time Kaylee's friend, Callie, came over for the first time and they made Hulk green playdough. The color was so vibrant it turned their hands and the table green. Or the time Kaylee made fondant for her birthday party and everyone's hands turned Smurf blue.
We used to attempt "science experiments" at the table when the kids were younger and still easily amazed. We erupted volcanoes, made oobleck and slime.
We fingerpainted and painted with shaving cream , right there on the bare table. Just recently the kids did the "cracker challenge", which is kind of like an experiment. You have to eat 10 saltines in 60 seconds without drinking anything. It's impossible, but they had fun trying.
And, turning back the hands of time a bit more, there was the time when Kaylee was 3 and got her chubby little toddler arm stuck in the slabs of the chair. I panicked and wondered which kind of saw I would need to cut the chair apart, and whether or not I'd have time to grab it before her arm had to be amputated. Then sanity kicked in and I grabbed the butter instead. Or the time she fell off the kitchen chair, hit her head on the floor and knocked herself unconscious. All of my CPR training went out the window and I totally freaked out. I did the only logical thing...what any sane mother would do in a time of medical crisis - I drug her from the kitchen table to the couch (like the couch has some magical healing powers) and shook her and screamed at her to wakeupwakeupWAKEUP!! Don't worry, she was fine.
We used to have a beagle named Moxie who, for reasons still unknown, loved climbing up on the table and walking around. Perhaps she didn't get the memo that she wasn't a cat.
I know it was wrong to grab the camera before making her get down but I had to get a picture. Also, the trash can on the table is weird, but it's up there to keep the dogs out of it while we were gone. Too bad we didn't realize she'd get on the table with it!
Kaylee went through a phase where she pretended to be a dog. Following in Moxie's footsteps, she climbed up on the table one day and rolled over so her sister could scratch her belly. My kids are freaks.
The first time Frank brought Jess over to meet me, we sat at the table and played Trouble together.
Every birthday child blows out their candles at the kitchen table.
We carve pumpkins, color eggs,
(ignore the mattress in the kitchen...it was Ethan's birthday present and we hadn't got around to switching it for the old one. We don't normally store random mattresses in our kitchen.)
build gingerbread houses,
(My son went through a phase where he gave everything bunny ears...including gingerbread houses. He's not right sometimes.)
and make valentine boxes there too.
A few times a year I have giant, ridiculous amounts of family photos printed when they go on sale. I sit at the table for hours and sort them and jot down notes about them while my family peers over my shoulder and laughs at all the silly memories. I know we can view them on the computer but I'm an old fashioned girl. I prefer to have them right here in front of me.
(Check out that sexy farmer's tan!)
Frank bought a giant load of legos from ebay one year. I'm talking billions of legos. Everyone gathered around the table to see what we could create. Actually, I suck at legos so I pretended to cook dinner while they played. But we were all right there at the table together, hanging out and having fun.
There was also the time I came home to find 2 teenage girls eating Italian food, wearing sombreros, and eating with chopsticks. They were being "multi-cultural".
There was the time the girls tried what they referred to as "experimental baking". They created a nasty concoction of various baking substances and ended up calling it "Poop Cookies" because, why else, they resembled piles of poop.
We have "Mexican night" where we eat tacos, wear sombreros, pretend we know Spanish, and listen to Mexican music (and sometimes enjoy a margarita).
Mexican night is so fun the neighbor kids even join in! I think he got confused as to what kind of hat to wear.
We've had "Fancy Night" where we get dressed up, crack open a bottle of wine, act loud and dance poorly to Italian music, and stuff ourselves with Italian food (homemade, of course).
(Don't pay attention to the look on Ethan's face. It really is fun.)
All in all, it's a place for gathering together, having fun, making messes, acting silly, and talking through life's issues. It's an office, a salon, a craft station, a bakery, a karaoke bar, and a talk show setting all rolled into one.
Just think of how many memories and important moments we'd miss if we never gathered around the table. I truly feel sad for any family who doesn't own one. Their memories must all revolve around the television set. "Remember that one time, when we all ate hamburger helper (true story - my children are regularly subjected to boxed dinners over there. Eewwww! The horror!) and watched Sports Center?" Geez, now I'm getting all misty-eyed and emotional (wait, I'm having a hot flash, too. Maybe it's all unrelated to the story.) I need to go hug my table and tell it thank you for hosting so many memories and bringing my family a little closer together.
*On a side note, please don't be offended if you're a person who makes hamburger helper. I'm gone to work for 10 1/2 hrs. a day and have been known to bust out the boxed macaroni and cheese and frozen pizzas plenty of times. But when I have the day off and we're not busy I try to actually cook. If you're a person who eats dinner in front of the TV instead of with your family, I can't apologize for my opinion on that. You really are missing out on a lot.
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