Mabel’s Musings - It’s Dinner Time

Roast, Brisket, or Chicken? One of these was always on the menu for our Sunday family dinners, usually it was a roast of some type. Mom would put the roast on to slow cook before we left for church and by the time we got back, it was magically ready to eat. Sunday dinner was my favorite meal of the week, because it was the one meal I didn’t have to peel potatoes. Mom would wash them off and just throw them in the pot with the rest of the vegetables. I loved the smell of Sunday dinner cooking when we got back home from church.

Mom would take the roast out of the oven or crock pot (in the later years of my. childhood) and let it cool while she made gravy to go with the potatoes and roast. Since there weren’t any potatoes to peel, my job was to set the table. On Sundays we got to use the “good” china (Corelle) and silverware, which always made the meal special to me.

To some, Sunday dinners means big family gatherings, but for me it was usually my dad, my mom, my brother, and me - at least until we were teenagers with jobs. By then, mom had cooked almost 1,000 Sunday dinners and decided we didn’t need them anymore. After I went off to college and started my adult life, mom reinstated these cherished dinners when I would visit. Only there were more people gathered around the table as my brother had gotten married and started a family and I would bring whatever girl I happened to be dating at the time home to meet the family.

When I was writing A Scent of Lilac, I wanted to include this family tradition. I didn’t see Mabel’s family dynamic as a right fit for the way I remembered our Sunday dinners, so I chose the Chapmans to carry on the tradition.

Since Mabel’s escape from the mental institution, she has struggled to find a feeling of family. Sunday dinners with the Chapmans gives Mabel the opportunity to redefine what family means. She likes playing with Claire’s young nephews and usually volunteers to keep them entertained while dinner is being prepared. On rainy days when the boys have to stay indoors, Mabel finds herself in the kitchen helping Claire, Sammie and Kate, Claire’s sister-in-law, fix dinner for the “men folk.” Often times Mabel will wash dishes as the other women slice, dice, peel, and chop the various dishes to be served that week.

Mabel loves the chaos of the meal while conversation is flowing over the passing of food. The Chapmans discuss many things around the dinner table. Of course the conversations sometimes get heated and tempers flare like in any family. I like to believe it’s the magic of Sunday dinners that keep them connected as a family, no matter how heated the argument gets. By the time the next dinner rolls around, usually all is forgiven. It is also the Sunday dinners that give Mabel a chance to become part of a family of her choosing, for Mabel finds love and acceptance from those who gather around the magical table.

To learn more about the the magic of Sunday dinners with the Chapmans, be sure to pick up a copy of A Scent of LIlac, due out July 6, 2021