Today is National Sunday Supper Day, the second Sunday of January. The goal, of what might seem like a "quirky" holiday, is to bring back the tradition of a large early afternoon meal, usually after church services, with family members.

The image above is for the last Greek Easter dinner with my mother-in-law Maria Metropoulos Arvanites (rear right) on Sunday 28 April 2019, before she would pass away on 2 February 2020.

In many countries like the United States where the predominate faith is Christianity, Sunday is a day of rest and one where the pace is slower. Many families would prepare a large family meal, often after church services, and starting around 1:00 pm or 2:00 pm. Sitting around the dining room table you could find immediate family members as well as aunts, uncles, and cousins in the vicinity or visiting from out of town.



Every family I knew in my hometown in upstate New York stuck to their own dishes and traditions for Sunday Supper. In our family, Sunday dinner was always held at the home of my great-grandparents John Ralph AUSTIN (1896 - 1976) and Therese Rose MCGINNES 1894 -1988). "Grandma" and "Grandpa" as we called them, had retired to an old Dutch farmhouse in Grahamsville, Sullivan County, New York.

The house was HUGE! Realize that each summer starting in the early 1940s, my mother and her 11 siblings spent the entire Summer living on the "hobby farm" with my great-grandparents. So while the house may seem large to first time visitors, keep in mind you needed living space and bed for 12 children as well as a way to feed those hungry mouths three meals a day!

Grandma always had some dish being prepared in the kitchen while she enlisted two or three granddaughters to set the table with good china, silverware, serving bowls, and cloth napkins. Each young girl knew where each utensil went thanks to Grandma's etiquette lessons. And fast forward 20 years the granddaughters would teach the table setting customs and practices to their daughters and great-granddaughters.

The Sunday meal itself was simple. Chicken in any form was way too expensive. Meats were purchase in Ellenville or Middletown and stored in a large chest freezer. Fruits and vegetables had already been harvested in the late Summer and early Autumn and then preserved using canning jars.

So what makes a Sunday Supper so special? Here are some important family life issues that the tradition of a weekly family meal can tackle:

• A time to share memories and stories with family members outside of school, work, and other pressures and routines.
   
• An opportunity to bond and connect with family members.
   
• A chance to put others above ourselves. Allows us to listen and give advice to other family members. And in terms we can set aside time for our own self-care.
   
• A chance to grow and expand out wisdom. We can hear a family members version of a family story and gain a new perspective on how an ancestor lived.
   
• Create a family food culture and through recipes, family stories, and dishes, pass that unique food culture on to future generations.