If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then the dining rooms in our houses were the communication centers. In some of our rental houses we had eat-in kitchens, and in others we just had dining rooms where we ate all our meals. But the evening meal was always the sit-down-around-the-dining-room-table meal.
We always ate between five-thirty and six, shortly after Daddy arrived home from work. At our house this meal was always called supper, and it was the big meal of the day, except on Sundays and holidays. Then the noon meal was called dinner, as in "Thanksgiving dinner", or "Christmas dinner," or Sunday dinner. It was expected that all would show up and sit down together to eat. Sometimes jobs or classes interfered, but usually everyone showed up and on time. This was the time of day when news and experiences were shared. And, with the boys, there were usually a lot of laughs.
We couldn't afford fancy meals, but Mother was a pretty good and creative cook. In those days we didn't have freezers and frozen foods, so foods were fresh or canned. Grandpa and Grandma Lininger had a garden, so we did get fresh or home-canned foods from them. I especially remember canned green beans and cherries from Grandma Lininger. I was always amazed as a kid , that Mother could get home at 4:45 or 5:00 from her club meeting, open some cans, and have supper on the table on time. Although, I was always expected to set the table.
What our meals lacked in special foods, Mother made up for with a pretty table. As always the artistic side of Mother made her find a pretty table cloth, a pretty centerpiece, and set the table correctly. I learned early about where to place the napkins, the silverware, the cups and glasses. I am, even now, a very indifferent cook. In fact, I cook very little. But I still like for the table to look pretty for whatever Don fixes or carries in.
Grandma and Grandpa gave Mother the pretty pink and white flowered dishes for on of her birthdays. And another birthday she received some crystal stemware. We had nice silverware from when Mother and Daddy were married. These we saved for Sundays and holidays, and used our every day dishes for the other days. You will see in the picture above that on the buffet is a crystal punch bowl set. When I was fifteen I had my first job working at the Star China Shop during the Christmas season. I bought the fanciest punch bowl set that my wages could buy to give my parents for Christmas. Looking back now, I know that there were many other things that my parents needed more. But that punch bowl set has been used for every family party in the history of our family from that Christmas on. AND I have it in my china cabinet even now. AND we still use it for every one of our holiday parties. Grandson Taylor always requests the cranberry punch.
Look again at the picture. See the greenery on the buffet? When we brought home a Christmas tree, Daddy always trimmed the lower branches before nailing it onto the stand. Mother used these branches to decorate the rest of the house, including the top of the buffet. She also added candles and ornaments or bows. One Christmas we were eating dinner, when my brother, David, (without pausing from eating) announced in a very calm voice, "The buffet is on fire."
Everyone, but David, jumped up and began pouring water and trying to put out the fire. But David just went on eating. After that we were always careful about combining greenery and candles. We also never let David forget this story.
I think the dining room table in the doll house is quite pretty. But the dining room suite that I grew up with was pretty --uh, what shall we call it? It was Sears and Roebuck baroque. It was several shades of brown stain, with inlaid veneer designs, and lots of carving. It had big fat ball legs, and heavy antique-looking gold drawer pulls. The chair seats were some kind of dismal velvet. It did make a statement! Mother kept table linens in the bottom two drawers of the buffet. But the top drawer was the place you could find anything that was missing from the rest of the house. Look there if you were searching for a bill or receipt, tape, scissors, a nut cracker, your lost report card. Doesn't every household have such a drawer?
After mother received all the wonderful china and crystal, Grandpa Lininger made her a wooden cabinet for storing her dishes in the dining room. It had a flat wooden door with no glass panes like most china cabinets. So Mother used her paints and artistic talents to paint a large floral design on the door. You can see my version in the doll house. Grandpa's was a corner cabinet and was brown wood stained. I do remember coming home from Central Avenue School for lunch and finding Mother , still in her pajamas and robe, painting the flowers on the cabinet door. She looked up aghast and said, "Is it noon already?"
It is hard to be a mom and a housewife when you are really an artist at heart.
And, of course, I have already and often told the story of the Saturday night when our parents went to bridge club and left us kids home alone. We were all in our early teens, so this was no scandal. We decided to set the table with all the fine linens, china, crystal and silver. Then we cooked our supper - I think it was bacon and a can of peas. We put on our dress-up clothes and sat down for a good ol' banquet. Mother and Daddy came home while we were eating. Thank goodness they had a good laugh, so we weren't in trouble after all!
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