We have added new family rhythms to our days to distinguish work + family time. Our stay at home order in Illinois has been extended until the end of April. We had to come up with new traditions to make the weekends not just feel like another weekday, especially Sunday.
Mike, the girls, and I are all doers. It is so hard for us to just be present with one another without a goal we are working towards. The first two weekends with the stay home order in place, Mike and I worked through the weekend. We each have projects that easily fill our time. The girls have more involved sewing projects that keeps them busy.
Saturdays are the day that we get things done around the house. We have a list of projects and Friday night we decide what we want to tackle the next day. Sundays need to be different. Mike and I want Sunday to feel refreshing, slow, and purposeful.
Sunday Brunch
Homemade Sunday brunch has been a family tradition as long as I can remember. It just gets easier and more fun as the girls get older. The girls are a big help in the kitchen and they enjoy planning what we are going to make. We always have bacon, eggs or a quiche, fruit, and some kind of carb.
The best part is choosing what type of sweet bread we are going to serve. Here are our favorites:
Some of our favorite kitchen utensils are found on my Favorite Things page.
Brunch serves a few purposes for me. Since we eat a later meal, I count it as both breakfast and lunch. I figure if we go to so much effort to make a big spread of food I can get by with just making one large morning meal. The clean up is quick. This is the only meal I make on Sundays so it is nice to have it done early in the day.
Sunday Service
Being part of a church community on Sunday morning has always been part of my life. We rarely missed a week so it feels unusual to participate in worship from home. It is a blessing to have this option but their is still a loss of community. Even though life is far from normal staying in the rhythm of Sunday worship is essential to our family.
Streaming our church service has definitely been one of the biggest adjustments for our family. To make us feel more connected to our church community we watch the service at 10 am. We get dressed and ready for the day though not necessarily in our Sunday best.
The girls all find something to keep their hands busy so that they can focus better on the service. The younger girls like to draw, color, or play with silly putty while they listen.
Popcorn
At dinnertime, Mike grabs out our Costco size jar of popcorn kernels and makes fresh popcorn. This has become our Sunday night dinner since we are not eating out due to the virus. We decided to upgrade from just coconut oil + salt as seasoning.
Now, we have a selection of different seasonings that the girls can choose from. My first choice was to just order some fun seasonings from my favorite spice shop but they are currently closed. So after scouring Pinterest we decided to make some of our own spice mixes.
Here are some of our favorite popcorn seasonings:
The new tradition of a Sunday night popcorn bar has been a fun way to finish up our evenings. We grab our popcorn and head downstairs for a family movie. This is an easy, relaxing end to our day.
Wrapping Up
With each day having the tendency to look the same, I have tried to create traditions around Sunday. I want these traditions to reflect what is important to us. Connecting with our church community and family are essential. On Sundays, we want to purposefully pause work to build up our family and enjoy one another.
How do you make Sunday a special day?
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