Looking Forward to Family Night in city, school district by Sally Thompson
Sun Newspapers; Feb 17, 2005

"Every night was family night when I was a child.

After supper my dad would head for the barn and the final evening chores while my mother, grandmother and I gathered in the kitchen to put food away and wash the dishes. Mother usually sang old, familiar songs like “Home Sweet Home,” “Wreck of the Old ‘97” or “Streets of Laredo,” and Grandma and I would sing along. The singing was more enthusiastic than tuneful, but no one cared – singing just made the work go faster.

Some nights we would gather in the living room, sitting around the big battery radio which pulled in stations from all across the country. Our family had favorite shows – “The Jack Benny Show,” “Fibber McGee and Molly,” “Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy,” “George Burns and Gracie Allen” – and we all would listen intently. There were gags we never tired of (hearing the sound of stuff falling to the floor whenever Fibber McGee opened his closet door) and favorite characters (Mel Blanc, the man of a thousand voices on Jack Benny’s show), and my dad’s laugh would thunder across the room whenever a favorite gag occurred.

Some nights we’d all play games like Chinese checkers, gin rummy or dominoes. Summer evenings the games switched to ones played outside the house. We’d play “Kick the Tin Can Off,” “Simon Says,” “Red Light, Green Light,” tag or catch. The activities varied, but family nights were our way of life."

Be sure to visit the Sun Newspapers website for full article.

Posted by Susan at 2/18/2005 01:47:00 PM | Link