Easy Christmas Family Dinner + Advent Wreath

This is a story about a mother who needed an easy Christmas family dinner and how she achieved that through an advent wreath.

I recently had a not-so-fabulous mother moment.  You know, the kind that you really don’t want to tell people about.  A truth you wouldn’t tell your mother, or your mother-in-law (stop reading Marilyn).  But I knew all y’all can keep a secret and let’s face it, we’ve all been there at one point of motherhood.

This is how it all went down.

I cooked a wonderful dinner of macaroni and cheese, carrots (steamed in the bag), and hamburger patties (no buns)…you do know that whole wonderful things is sarcasm right?  Anyhow, we were all super busy with life and deadlines.  Hayden wanted to play his computer game because all his friends were going to be on at-that-exact-moment.  Hubby had budgets for reno houses to write.  I had a post to create and Luke…well Luke wanted to play on the iPad.

Brace yourself.

I dished up everyone’s food and let them eat it at the computer, iPad, office etc….  We didn’t sit together and eat.  We sat in front of our respective technology and just shoveled it in as fast as we could.  Now, if this were the first time this has ever happened, I would give myself a pass.  Sadly, it was happening more often lately.  None of us could give up that 20 minutes it took to eat as a family.

As I sat at my computer typing, I looked around our small house and knew that even though we were all physically close together, emotionally we had retreated to our “thing”.  I knew this had to stop.  For years we have always sat down as a family to eat dinner.  I prided myself in the fact we weren’t one of those families they talked about on TV.  You know, the families they highlight as examples of the downfall of the family unit because they don’t eat together.

Rather than make a declaration right then and there, I decided to take a quieter approach to the change I wanted to see.  I found some pretty plaid chargers on sale.  I pulled down the Christmas dishes.  I set the table in full, two Sunday’s ago, and placed a cake server in the middle with four candles on it to create my own version of an advent wreath.

I made a good old fashioned home cooked meal and invited everyone to join me at the table.  Luke declared this was a special Christmas dinner.  He was so excited.  I told everyone about the advent wreath and what each candle meant and how the advent wreath at church was a special Christmas memory to me.  As a child, I couldn’t wait for the Christ candle to be lit because that meant it was Christmas.  I told Luke we could eat a Christmas dinner every single night like this.  His eyes lit up.  Hubby declared this was special.  Even Hayden (14) gave a muffled “that’s cool”.

Success

I leave the chargers on the table all the time so it always looks festive (plus it saves my placemats).  I love the added touch of Christmas it infused into the eating nook.  But more than that, I love the added touch of Christmas it infused into this family.

Mamma wins another one.