I am not the most sentimental person but this recent post from my friend Simran’s blog A Little Yumminess definitely caught my attention. I love the idea of impromptu, collective journaling of our family’s daily dramas. I love that it’s informal, and unfussy. I imagine that the minimal effort yield super sweet results.

Would any of you give this a try at home? I think we will.

Because family dinners are about so much more than eating, one of the things we’ve been doing lately is jotting down a little note or doodle from the day while we’re sitting together at the table. During the rush of the week it’s one of the only times when we’re all together and have the chance to talk and catch up.

This is sort of a lazy person’s journal, but in this case one for the whole family. Our version is simple, a bowl (an excuse to use one of the fancy Waterford crystal bowls we got many moons ago as a wedding gift) filled with index cards and pens. It’s a permanent fixture on our dining room table and as we eat and talk we pass around a blank card and write a little something about what we ate, our favorite part of the day, things we want to do, a piece of trivia, or just a silly story or doodle. Luca makes sure we never forget to “do our card” and he loves to ask us to pull one out at random and read what we wrote during previous dinners.

Life seems to move at the speed of light most of the time so it’s nice to capture some of those tiny minuscule moments. Even if we’re stressed and the food is less than great, it also reminds me that this is my favorite part of the day.