Easter dinner is a time of gathering
Published 12:00 am Saturday, March 30, 2002
The tradition of Easter and the family dinner is alive and well.
Saturday, March 30, 2002
The tradition of Easter and the family dinner is alive and well.
Some families may think this ancient tradition has gone the way of the dinosaurs but it is still extremely important to many families. These families actually make a point of sitting together at a table with forks, knifes, napkins and plates and eating home cooked food while catching up on one another’s day.
The Peter and Lianne Vogt Family of Blooming Prairie have their six children set the table and they have a list of who does what chore.
"Sunday nights are pizza nights. We mix the dough in a bread machine and the kids roll it out and choose their toppings. They really enjoy that," said Lianne.
The Mike and Diane Schneider family of Adams sit down to eat together every night and have Sunday dinner together. They have three boys, Tim 17, Curt 15, and Daniel 12."Today was Sunday and we ate hamburgers. The boys all have chores and they have to pick up the house, empty the dishwasher and take out the garbage." said Schneider.
Shari Manges of Blooming Prairie works nights at the hospital in Austin but she says it is extremely important for her family to eat dinner together.
"We eat dinner between 5:30 and 6 p.m. I’m not real strict on who does the dishes. It’s important to me because my mom worked evenings when I was growing up. We didn’t eat supper together. We did eat Sunday dinner together. My kids know how to cook and they help out with that, " said Manges.
Jeannie, 15, and Jonathan, 13, Manges older children, make macaroni and cheese and bake cakes and cookies. Manges said they are even good about cleaning up after themselves.
Amy Trotman of Blooming Prairie has her four children, each cook one night a week. Patrick Trotman, 9, cooks meat loaf on his scheduled night. Trotman was raised in family of nine and the family dinner was extremely important.
"If you didn’t like the food – tough crap. We had to wait for my brothers to come home from sports some nights. There were four girls and three boys. We kids had to make the dinner because my mom did barn chores. I remember not liking some food we had and excusing myself and going to the bathroom to spit it out. We never said we didn’t like any food," said Trotman.
The familly even had dessert every night and this was usually vanilla ice cream. Trotman’s mother was big on making fruit cobblers to go with the ice cream.
All these families have their children get involved with preparing the meal and with the clean up. It is their time to connect with one another and sit down and bring new life into their family through nourishment and conversation. You can’t get that at a fast food joint.
Call Sheila Donnelly at 434-2235 or e-mail her at newsroom@austindailyherald.com.