Fun Dressing Up the Table

The family dinner table is an important part of family life. Sadly though it seems many families don't sit at the dinner table together as much as they did when I was a kid, or even as much as we did when my own daughter was a child. Many experts say that's a key thing missing in today's society and family structure.  Kids are busy with school and related sports activities and families eat on the go.  But, perhaps with the holidays approaching setting a nice table and sitting together as a family can be achieved.

My husband and I always eat in the dining room, except for Friday night which is traditionally pizza night at our house.  That night we sit in front of the boob tube.  I always use cloth napkins.  They're more environmentally friendly for one, and I like the feel of them over paper napkins.  I've not yet tried these folds, or anything beyond folding flat or rolling; but plan to.  I wonder if the napkins need to be fairly new so they're sorta stiff?

Do you use cloth napkins?  Have you tried these or other pretty/cute folds?  Do you eat at the dining room table?  Leave me your thoughts in the comments below.

This blog has been in moth balls for a while and I'm hoping to fix that.  I recently re-charged my travel blog, Traveling Suitcase, where I'm currently blogging about a wonderful trip to Ireland and Scotland.  I've managed to keep my charity blog, Bridge and Beyond, current.  But, back to napkins, I always pack cloth napkins when hubby and I travel domestically.  We stay in condo's/timeshares so do the bulk of our meals in. 

Hammocks and Holidays

Oh my, these picture was taken long ago. Remember when we all had little Instamatic cameras and opted for the mat finish? Which doesn't hold up well over the years it seems. It doesn't scan all that well either.

This is Mom with a silly hat on, reclining...relaxing in the hammock with Daddy sneaking up behind the tree. I find this picture funny for several reason. Mom wasn't one to relax all that much, so her laying in the hammock like she has not a care in the world is funny. Actually, they had been working in the yard all day. Their backyard is full of flowers, redbrick walks; quite pretty. It takes lots of work to keep it looking that way. The little boat in the background is the little fishing boat they had. Fishing was their other hobby.

The pretty set table is also from years ago; though a bit more recent than the hammock picture. This is the table before a Thanksgiving, before the family grew to it's present size. Mom always decorated so pretty for the holidays. The table at Thanksgiving was always well appointed with a beautiful linen table cloth and napkins, special china and silver, and stemware. The silver was family silver several generations old, so was the stemware. For many years we used the family china, hand painted and handed down through the generations. But, as the family grew she opted for the white stoneware china that could be put in the dish washer. The hand painted china was fragile (not good when grandchildren were young and running about).

Mom made all the holidays special, special family time.

These are 2 memories that come to mind for the letter H, for my Memory Monday as I remember Mom.

The letter G (gowns)