One of the great traditions in the McGhie household was the Sunday dinner. Whether we had guests or not, Sunday dinner was a ritual that brought our family close together. Most of the Sunday dinners over the years had the same menu or some variation of it: Roast, mashed potatoes, corn from Grandpa Charlie's garden, jello, often some other vegetable and rolls with homemade freezer jam. When we got home from church Dad would cut the roast with an electric knife. The dog would get the scraps and I think it was Rambo or Zeke who would whine and howl when he heard the electric knife, knowing that the meat scraps were soon to follow.
If you called our house during dinner and asked for one of the kids, you might be subject to having the phone passed around to everyone at the table (except the person you wanted to speak to). Each member of the family or guest would say in order "Oh you wanted to talk to Lisa? Sorry, I will get her."
The dinner conversation usually revolved around telling and re-telling stories, jokes or generally having a good laugh. Here are a few samples:
Some guests are at our house for the first time. Dad asks Brent to pray. Brent gives him a puzzled look and says "pray?" Then as if he realizes something important Brent says "Oh yeah, we have guests over. OK, I'll pray."
Marty's girlfriend comes for Sunday dinner with her mom. Her mom asks innocently "Why do they call you 'Mirv'?" Before anyone can respond, Jeff quickly says "Mirv the Perv!"
Grandpa Mac devouring the last of the year's freezer jam spoonfull after spoonfull. From then on anyone who put too generous a portion of jam on his roll was called "Grandpa Mac".
Would-be spouses were not ready to join the family until they had survived a few Sunday dinners. The first Sunday dinner for a girlfriend or boyfriend was a special event, the test of all tests. Younger siblings would get excited about the prospects of an older brother bringing a girlfriend home for the first time, like a professional athlete mentally prepares for a big game.
So next time you are at a McGhie Sunday dinner you can appreciate the fact that you are continuing a long and rich tradition.
3 comments:
Oh yeah, Sunday dinners were the event of the week. I was telling Steff not long ago about the battles we'd have to try and get the meat next to you, because that meant you'd get first shot at it. Prior to dinner the table would be set with all the different food plates. The meat was always last to come out and the art was to keep the food shifting places quickly enough to have that one open spot next to you when mom brought over the meat plate. The other memory I have is nobody wanting to sit by Brent because it was always an elbow battle.
Oh, and just a reminder, don't ever ask for someone to pass you a roll at the McGhie dinner table. There's about a 87% chance it will be mutilated beyond recognition right as it gets within reach...
I think Matt and I wore a hole in the piano bench from sitting on it every Sunday for 15 years. Usually Sunday dinner there was always a re-telling about one of the Bennetts or the Higleys. Funny how those stories never got old...they just got better!
I had totally forgotten about the "phone passing" trick we always did. Classic! I recall there for awhile Marty was always bringing home a cast of characters from BYU and they livened up our Sunday dinners there for awhile. Jeff Nevins, Scott Owen, and some others... Ya roll destruction was a common occurrence as was baked potato mutilation. I saw more than one baked potato get mashed and deformed by a sibling.
I'm still trying to remember which friend of mine was over eating dinner with us, in my mind I'm thinking Paul Reichert but not certain. But dad asked him to say the prayer. In his prayer he said "And please bless President Kimball"... only problem is he'd been dead for about 4 years or something. After the prayer Dad said, "That was nice of you to bless Pres. Kimball but I don't think he really needs your prayers where he is now." He realized what he'd said and was way embarrassed. And of course, us McGhie's were always very sensitive about such matters, so I think we only mocked him for about the next 45 minutes. Good times indeed!!
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