When I watch movies and I see those scenes where families are sitting around a dinner table, passing dishes around and laughing, I always smile because that is not far from how we do things in my family, well, with a little Nigerian touch of course.
In my house, we do eat around the same time,that one is almost like an unspoken tradition, like once food is ready, my mom dishes it out for everyone,she is the official server of the house, whether you are hungry or not, she will say, “Come and eat now, don’t let the food get cold.” And just like that, we all find ourselves in the living room, plates in hand, gathering like a mini dinner party.
We do not have a dining table that we all sit around o, we are not doing that full on movie style kind of dinner, but we do sit in the same space and eat, gist, and sometimes argue about random things like who left the pot uncovered or who used the last sachet of milk, see honestly, those moments can be chaotic and funny at the same time.
What I really like about it is that it brings everyone together, even if it is just for a short while, the living room becomes the meeting point where everybody drops whatever they are doing, and we all just enjoy that shared meal. It is not something we plan ahead or announce like “family dinner by 7pm,” but it just happens naturally.
Now the only time we do not eat together is when people have one place or the other to be ,maybe my siblings are out or someone is working late or just not feeling too good, but on a normal day when everyone is around, We go chop together!
Sometimes I think about how nice it would be if this could become a proper tradition, like something intentional, vut I won’t lie, life is life-ing and everybody’s routine is all over the place, My younger ones are growing, my mom is always busy, and I myself have days where I just want to eat and sleep without any form of socializing even with my own family, so yes, it would be nice to make it a solid tradition, but it is also not that easy with how our schedules go.
But I will still say this, those family meal moments are special, you get to listen to people rant about their day, make fun of each other, share random thoughts, or just sit in comfortable silence, it is not always deep talk, but the togetherness is what matters, I think those are the little things that keep families close without us even realizing it.
So yeah, while we may not be all formal with the whole candles and plates lined up on a long table, see actually we do have our own version of family dinner, and that version is filled with so much gist, laughter, sometimes eye rolling, etc and food that most times slaps differently when shared.
And maybe, just maybe, someday I will try and make it a real tradition in my own home again, no matter how busy life gets.
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