Friday Favorites

Back "in the day" I was the gal that lived for Friday nights. Before the kids came along, we had a busy social life, hanging with friends at local restaurants, late nights in each others' apartments, laughing and playing games or watching movies. When the boys were really little, we just bundled them up in their jammies and brought them along. Somewhere along the journey, our Friday night social calendar stopped filling up. As the demands of a career and three, then four, children started pulling at us, The Boss needed Friday nights to unwind, in the peace and quiet of his own living room. I'd bundle the kids up still, but in their cozy little beds, a bit earlier than other nights. And now? We actually rejoice over the occasional "empty" Friday night on our calendar. We crave them like one craves ice cream on a hot and sunny day. They are our refreshment. Our chance to call our own shots and stop our clock, if only for one night.

My Favorite Things: Friday Nights With The Gang

• Long, late dinners. We can take our time, talk and laugh and tell stories of our day, without one eye on the "bed time on a school night" clock.
• We're all home. With a 13 and 12 year old, I know these occasions will be fewer and farther between, but for now, I love having all my chicks in one nest for the night!
• No meetings. It's a rare occasion that we have church or school functions on Fridays, so we enjoy the chance to dis-engage our "agenda-minded" brains for at least one night.
• Movie Night! We don't always watch a movie together, but I love the sound of the kids laughing together regardless of the differences that may have cropped up between them earlier in the day.
• Late bedtime for all. The kids are all still young enough to view a later bedtime as a treat, so I feel like the cool Mom at least once a week! The Boss usually falls asleep 1/2 way through "Numbers" but I snuggle in with him and watch re-runs and late night tv till my eyes are bleary.

There is something delicious about a late, relaxed Friday evening at home. It's even more delicious to sleep in on a Saturday morning, to be greeted with the smell of freshly brewed (albeit it, ridiculously strong!) coffee. To have no alarm blaring across the room, jarring me awake. But the most delicious thing about it all is the way the whole world outside our doors just disappears and the mad dash through life stops on a dime. If only for one night.