Our New Sunday Tradition

For many years we have tried to have a special family lunch together after Church. We grew up in  a time where having Sunday lunch was what was expected in a family.
Our ancestry is of a British nature and a 'baked dinner' was the type of meal that was expected at this particular time.
We tend to carry on this tradition for more special occasions like Christmas and Easter along with Holy Thursday.
Other than that we really are not big fans of the traditional baked dinner.

Why is this so?

There are a few reasons for this, some of which are entirely practical.
1. It actually takes a VERY long time to peel and cut up lots of vegetables for a baked dinner in the quantity and variety that we like.
We like to have enough veggies left over for someone to have for snacks or for seconds helpings if someone is especially hungry that day.

2. Baked dinners require a LOT of washing up of greasy pans and other dishes as well. WE serve our meal up from the table and so have 'serving dishes' as well as the cooking dishes.

3. Frankly baked dinners are not our favourites. Even when children choose their birthday dinner we rarely have anyone choose a baked dinner.

So why worry about whether a baked dinner or another meal is  what to have on Sundays?

Well we have always tried to make Sunday a special day.
We do think of it as  a "little Easter" as we are supposed to - a feast day to remind us of Easter and all it means to us. Obviously the meal can help contribute to this and we have Sundaes on Sunday but the main meal has produced challenges for us.
I believe Sunday is  not a special day if some of the members of the family are spending vast amount of times in the kitchen, instead of enjoying time in rest and relaxation as is the idea of the day.

So we have gone through times trying to think of ways to handle this. We have had really easy scrappy meals to try to allow for the more important family bonding to happen. I was never really happy with this though as we make special meals for other important days and it just didn't satisfy me that we were celebrating in the way we should. Of course we have tried the 'baked dinner approach' too with the results of no relaxation and stress involved because we couldn't get it ready in time after Mass.

So last week I think we came up with a plan that will allow us to have the special meal and spend time together.

We will BBQ. 

I know most people only do this in the Summer but we do it all year round in our home.

Our plan is to come home from Mass which finishes at 11:30am and put some meat on the BBQ with some onion, make a salad and have corn on the cob with some bread rolls and a simple sweets for afters. Yesterday we had jelly and ice cream.

I really think everyone enjoyed this and we had plenty of  free and relaxing time for the afternoon. Just what  we need after a busy and intense week or lessons, work and all the organising that goes into everyday living.

All in all a wonderful day celebrating the joy of the Resurrection and our thankfulness to God for our Daily bread.

Blessings to you and your homes,