Bringing Back the Sunday Dinner

I grew up in North Alabama, 5 hours away from my Grandparents (cousins, aunts/uncles). My Mom's parents were Grandmama & Granddaddy and my Dad's parents were Granny & Papa. Each set was vastly different from the other - but still very much the same. Granny & Papa were more lively, they told jokes and laughed a lot. Grandmama & Granddaddy seemed more serious and matter-of-fact. They didn't play with us but it could be because they had 11 children all with a minimum of 4 children each and they were constantly worn out over the largeness of their family.

Once a month or so Daddy  would pile us into the back of our huge-ass wood paneled station wagon or in the covered back of his pickup truck, and we would hit the road South.  The routine was always the same: Drive straight through until we got to Granny's. When we arrived close to midnight Granny would have an Orange Pound Cake and a 7-layer Chocolate Cake sitting on the kitchen table just waiting for us. We'd hit the beds as fast as we could because we knew 7am and breakfast would come too fast - no sleeping in for any of us! Granny would get up at the crack of dawn and start making breakfast, fried eggs, grits, toasts, bacon, ham....(love me some southern breakfast!) which we always ate off of her fine china. After breakfast my Mother would either wash or dry the dishes while the 'girls' (me and Rhonda) got dressed. Then it was off to town to visit Grandmama & Granddaddy while the 'boys' got to stay behind with my Dad and do fun stuff like fish, swing on ropes in the pond, dig in the dirt, ride in Papa's old truck, do 'stuff' with my Dad and Papa. My sister and I drug our feet all the way to the car every Saturday morning because we just knew the boys were going to have more fun that us. Once at Grandmama's house we sat around, waited for a cousin or two to pop over and just...sat around. Sometimes we would get to go downtown on the city square where Granddaddy owned a barber shop (there were no fast food places, department stores...nothing)...tiny town USA. But mostly, we just wandered around the yard looking for something to do until my Dad and Brothers arrived late in the afternoon for a bit of supper, Hee Haw, and many family people to arrive.

Sunday morning we would get up and head to my Grandmama & Granddaddy's church. Granddaddy led singing, my cousin played piano and everyone sang loudly, and some even in key. Once service was over we would all go back to Grandmama's house for "Sunday Dinner" - it took place around 1 o'clock. It was like waking up on Christmas morning and you realize Santa had come in the night and the tree was littered with presents. Except, it would be the dining room table weighted down with some of the most delicious southern Alabama food. Grandmama must have gotten up with the roosters to prepare the massive spread for 50; she would have the food on the table before church and cover it up with a sheet. After church the sheet would come off and all the Angels sangs "Ahhhhhhhhh"! Now, I don't know if she cooked like that every Sunday for the family down there or if it was a treat saved just for our visit (that's what I like to believe, although I know it's not true) - but it made me feel so special!

Ham, fried chicken, chicken and dumplings, dressing, potatoes, black-eyed peas, little green peas (the best in the World), cornbread, fried cornbread, rolls, okra, fresh tomatoes...too much to remember but, Man...I love that food! And don't get me started on the dessert table and sweet tea! I could slip into a food coma just thinking about it right now! There is just something so special and unique about having Sunday Dinner - although Mama didn't throw down a Sunday dinner like Grandmama for us when we were at home, I always looked forward to whatever she made just because it was Sunday and food just tasted better on Sundays!

My Grandparents are gone now, along with my Mom and Dad. How I wish I could have just one more Sunday dinner with them all again! I wish my children and grandchildren could experience the gift of one of those Sunday dinners that I was given.

Last Sunday I threw down some southern Alabama cooking - Fried chicken, peas, fried cornbread, sweet potatoes...well, it was a semi throwdown. But it was yummy! Yummy! It was then that I realized that it was up to me to bring back the tradition of Sunday dinner! And not just any kind of food..but to resurrect the joy of that food spread under the sheet on Grandmama's table. So I have a challenge ahead of me!

I'm bringing back Sunday Dinner ya'll!