How do you make Sundays special?

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The_Rigbys

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I’m not thinking so much about negatives (like “not going shopping”…or “not using the Internet” 😉 ), but about positives.

For instance, we try to:
  • Clean the house on Friday or Saturday, in preparation
  • Cook the best meals of the week (a full breakfast, a roast for dinner, a special dessert, etc.)
  • Set the table with our wedding china
  • Dress in our best clothes (though we’d change out of them for sports, etc.)
  • Visit friends and relatives
  • Sing hymns around the house
  • Give the baby special privileges, e.g. fancier toys, or letting her explore parts of the house that are usually off-limits
Well, we’ve never quite managed to do all of these, but we’re improving! 🙂

What does your family do? (Or, what would you like to do?)
 
Ohh, I like this thread!

We:
  • Clean the house Saturday in preparation
  • Try to make no plans that would not include the whole family for Sunday.
  • Always attend Mass as a family.
  • Cook the biggest meal of the week.
  • Spend Sunday afternoons together talking walks, visiting, etc.
  • Have a family meeting Sunday night.
 
One of the sweetest things I ever heard was from an Orthodox Jewish man who says that when he is bathing the children in preparation for the Sabbath, his wife puts their towels in the dryer so that when he wraps them up the little ones, they are cuddled in a nice warm towel. Of course, the bigger kids have to dry themselves, but they get a hot towel, too.
 
Every other weekend I have to work but the Sunday´s I have off are for Mass on Sunday, rest and quality time with family and friends.

Emmy
 
OK so I don’t shop on Sunday.

We do go to Mass as a family. We used to sit with my mother-in-law, but now that my father-in-law – thanks be to God - has returned to the Church, they go to a different Mass than us.

We do family activities. I usually cook a nummy brunch to break our fast and a good time after Communion.

We tend to work around the yard. We are avid gardeners and installed a water garden this year. That even included the dog – a Jack Russell who was there for every shovel full of dirt to be moved. She guarded my husband any maniac earth worms that lunge out of the soil. Well, you would think to see her intensity over several days.

Mostly we just try to make up for any time we missed together during the week.

We also spend time trying to guess when and what kind of baby we will get with this adoption.
 
We try to have our best meal of the week for Sunday afternoon, although sometimes we will make it a big brunch. (e.g. eggs, pancakes, sausage/bacon/ham, biscuits, red-eye or chipped beef gravy)

We also reduce all TV and video game time by half. We have a one hour sudy through the catechism.
 
My husband wakes me with coffee & the Sunday paper. He prepares breakfast for the children & cleans up the kitchen, giving me the morning off. The kids get dressed, brush their teeth and make their beds and we head off to church. I have lunch all planned so we can eat a delicious warm meal as soon as we get home. The kids play quietly in their rooms for the remainder of the day and my husband & I share some quite time together. RINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG! And that’s my alarm clock waking me up !! 🙂
 
My Sundays today (2004):
wake up and say prayers
Listen to EWTN in the early morning.
Get ready for Liturgy.
Go to Church
Take part in our church’s Scripture study.
A visit from my brother.
relax
Listen to Fr. Groeshel’s program on ETWN
Watch the SImpsons
relax again and read.
prayers
bedtime

I try to avoid shopping. I remember as a kid about the ‘blue laws’ which lasted until 1977. As a kid, we would go to our grandmother’s house and spend a day with her.
 
I take a nap, hub watches football (I am sure there are also other sports at various times of the year, I don’t care as long as he keeps the volume down). then I catch up on mail, writing letters to friends and relatives (definitely not bills or boring stuff), and call the kids.

Sunday is a workday, get home from church and RCIA at noon. Once a month is Oblate meeting at the monastery (cuts into my naptime, but necessary for my spiritual growth so I offer it up).
 
Let’s see, Sunday. I’m already working when Sunday starts, off at 0600. Home by 0630, feed the cats, in bed and “night-time” prayers by 0645. If I’m lucky, sleep until 1500, then up to watch the EWTN programs I taped the previous night. Dinner (warmed-up left-overs) at 1800, back to work at 2000.

DaveBj
 
I usually start off with a lazy morning of coffee and the paper, then head out to the airport for some recreational flying, after I get married next year we’ll be doing the tradional family Sunday flights (ok, by tradition they’re drives, but you get the idea;)). In the evening, I generally cook a nice meal and eat at the table (instead of bach’ing it in front of the TV).
 
We sleep in until 9 and then go to Mass. When we come home we make breakfast even though it is noon. Then we take the trash across town to my parents house and visit with them, and a lot of the time we go over and visit his parents.

Then we go home and cuddle up and talk, well lately we have been doing a little bit of Christmas decorating because it is so great seeing the ornaments that we have had since we were kids and getting to tell each other about them. I am loving this Christmas even though it is our first married Christmas and our last alone Christmas as we will have 3 month old next year.
 
So far, sundays are spent visting people…we haven’t had a sunday to ourselves in at least 2 months. I think after Christmas, I’m gonna make it mandatory that we spend at least 2 sundays a month lounging at home.
 
Sunday used to be shopping day. We would go to church then there was always a stop at a restaurant and then to JC Penny, Costco, Walmart, something. I have stopped that as much as possible in my life and have tried to force the rest of my family into it as well. Not sure it works all that well, but it does seem there’s less shopping. In the morning there is usually a nice breakfast (unless I decide to skip fixing it). Then it’s preping for Mass; football; Mass; football. Twice a month it’s to Taekwondo for weapons training. Doesn’t sound like my Sunday is nearly as relaxing/holy as everyone else’s. :crying:
 
The Rigbys:
I’m not thinking so much about negatives (like “not going shopping”…or “not using the Internet” 😉 ), but about positives.

For instance, we try to:
  • Clean the house on Friday or Saturday, in preparation
  • Cook the best meals of the week (a full breakfast, a roast for dinner, a special dessert, etc.)
  • Set the table with our wedding china
  • Dress in our best clothes (though we’d change out of them for sports, etc.)
  • Visit friends and relatives
  • Sing hymns around the house
  • Give the baby special privileges, e.g. fancier toys, or letting her explore parts of the house that are usually off-limits
    Well, we’ve never quite managed to do all of these, but we’re improving! 🙂
    What does your family do? (Or, what would you like to do?)
Click to expand...
I would LIKE to make Sunday, The Sabbath extra special, even starting on Saturday nite, with no TV, no shopping or socializing, etc., but unfortunately for me, I have a husband and father of my kids who could care less. He just opens the TV and watches football and drinks beer the whole day. 😦 The only way I try to make it special the best I can, is to keep the TV locked at least until after Mass (church) (around 1:00 p.m.) , and light the advent wreath at dinner currently. Otherwise it is just like any other day. Oh how I long that it would different, that I had a Godly husband and dad to the kids.!!! Those of you women are SO lucky if you do. We always have our customary meal on Sunday nites, but other than going to Church, it’s just a lazy day. I’m very saddened by the way hubby really has NO regard for the Sabbath. Any suggestions how to remedy this from my perspective?

The Rigby’s: You’re awesome. God Bless You~~
 
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sparkle:
I would LIKE to make Sunday, The Sabbath extra special. . . .Any suggestions how to remedy this from my perspective?
~~
Click to expand...
Sparkle, do you have friends? Not beer-buddies but a couple or family friends – maybe with kids close to yours in age? They could be “church people” or not. When my little ones were home, we used to invite one or two people over for Sunday dinner every week. I cooked a nice meal (not necessarily an all-stops-out gourmet extravaganza), like roast capon, beef Bourguignon, baked ham, leg of lamb . . . Set the table with good china and silver (or not!) but always used a table cloth and served wine or good beer, depending on the menu. Made a dessert (or maybe Sara Lee made it for me). It was a low-key family event, starting around 4:00 and it was all over, including the clean-up by 9:30 p.m.

This wouldn’t mean a big outlay for your husband. He would just have to show up at the table. How could he not like that? Good food, pleasant company, no stress. You could tape the game for him so he wouldn’t miss anything.

If your kids are old enough, they could be responsible for some of the extra work: setting the table. Clearing the dishes. Making dessert? Making a centerpiece that you use time after time?
 
Dear Rigbys,
This is a wonderful thread, thanks for starting it. After reading over the replies, the only thing I can add is playing a board game. Even as adults, our sons still like to play these when they come visit.
This is something that our semi-adopted children like to do when they come.
The Rigbys:
I’m not thinking so much about negatives (like “not going shopping”…or “not using the Internet” 😉 ), but about positives.

For instance, we try to:
  • Clean the house on Friday or Saturday, in preparation
  • Cook the best meals of the week (a full breakfast, a roast for dinner, a special dessert, etc.)
  • Set the table with our wedding china
  • Dress in our best clothes (though we’d change out of them for sports, etc.)
  • Visit friends and relatives
  • Sing hymns around the house
  • Give the baby special privileges, e.g. fancier toys, or letting her explore parts of the house that are usually off-limits
Well, we’ve never quite managed to do all of these, but we’re improving! 🙂

What does your family do? (Or, what would you like to do?)
Click to expand...
 
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