The Kitchen Table

In our house, Mom's kitchen table was the place to be. Throughout childhood, at both the house on Lincoln Avenue and the house on Addison Road, the kitchen table was where everyone gathered.  It was a big table--it had to be in order to seat all seven kids, plus Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, the Grandkids, and whoever else might have been around.

Recently, we had to say goodbye to the kitchen table. Mom has downsized to a smaller house and the house on Addison was sold. I thought about trying to keep the kitchen table, but it is too big. So, instead of keeping the kitchen table, MDS suggested that I write a post here.

The first photo is from the house on Lincoln. It was taken just before Christmas as part of the annual photo shoot for the Christmas card. Mom and Dad would make us dress up in nice clothes and then take a number of photos throughout the house in different arrangements of the seven kids. Here, Noah is front and center.

We celebrated many birthdays around the kitchen table, so there are a lot of photos of one of us with a cake and candles. When we were young, Mom always baked the cakes. She would serve the cake in the cake pans. Those birthday cakes were always the best cakes.

After we had all moved out, any time we visited Mom and Dad, the first stop was the kitchen table. Often, I didn't get past the kitchen table and would spend the entire visit there. The kitchen table was the heart of the house.

Below are a number of family photos taken around the kitchen table. Some are old (in one, I am the crying baby), some are new (featuring Mom and Dad with the grandkids), there is even one photo featuring a Saturday night spaghetti & gravy dinner. But all the photos are a fun reminder of the good times around the kitchen table. My favorite photo is the one of Rich and Marvin in sunglasses. Which is your favorite?