Suppertime Silliness

I truly love our ritual of family suppertime, but I must admit that there have been points over the years when I wondered if it was truly worth the effort.  There have been times over the years when our family dinner table was, well, wildly challenging.  Some nights there were battles over food (what in the world is that?  Whatever it is, I'm so not eating it!).  Some nights there was a child or two who made it very clear he/she would rather be someplace other than our table (Why do I have to sit here and eat?  I want to go outside and play!).  At times bad manners needed to be corrected (For crying out loud, sit up straight and chew your food - don't just put your face to your plate and shovel it in!  You were not born in a barn!).  I would often fantasize about the kids getting older and sitting around the dinner table, chatting about what happened to each of us that day, and actually engaging in lively conversation about a broad array of topics.  Now that the kids are 16, 14 and 11, occasionally my fantasy comes true.  We sometimes discuss politics, current events, the modern American mentality, or a recent sports event.  Sometimes the talk turns to a particular issue of faith or the interpretation of a passage of the Bible.  I truly love it when these kinds of discussions break out around our dinner table.
More often than not, however, there are nights like tonight, when complete silliness breaks out.  These instances sneak up quickly and they're totally "you had to be there" family moments that I wouldn't trade for anything.  It's usually toward the end of the meal, and the silliness always invokes a hillarious response, such as Drew falling off his chair laughing, or Erin laughing so hard after she took a sip of water she's got it coming out her nose.
Tonight we had baby carrots as part of our meal, and Kelsey initiated the silliness when she turned a carrot into a witch's nose...

Then came the mustaches...

The girls' antics brought a healthy dose of laughter to the end of the meal.  And yes, Drew was rolling on the floor with laughter.  As we got up from the table there were smiles all around at the lighthearted nature that had descended on our house.  Have I mentioned how much I love the atmosphere around our family table?  It's why I'm so passionate about gathering our family for good food, good fun, and good laughs.