I did that last week, but it was kind of an accident... I had a pork roast to go in the oven Friday night, but when I got home from work I was exhausted so I told DH, Sorry, but it's tomato soup and toasties tonight :-) We were at an event Saturday night, and Sunday morning I thought, Sunday dinner can be a bit of a scramble because I have to do the ironing and have dinner ready by a certain time so DH can eat and return to the city. So we had the roast for lunch and then the soup I had planned for lunch, for dinner :-) But I didn't go all out as you did with the lovely table settings.

It was fun, we should do it again!

Lovely and so nice to see.

I always cook a big meal on Sundays so that I can have leftovers sometime during the week. But I don't set a beautiful table like you do Martha!

Tomorrow is going to be Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic, with potatoes and carrots in with the chicken, so that everything gets infused with the lovely taste of garlic. The reason I'm making that is that I was given a ton of fresh Ontario garlic from my BIL this week, so I'm looking for ways to use up garlic.

How do you do your chicken? With flour and spices? Soaked in buttermilk? I've said often that I want to make fried chicken but have never done it.

We had some beautiful corn on the cob this weekend as well. WalMart was selling it for .14/ear. It was obviously from Florida as ours isn't ready yet, but it was young and sweet.

Sunday dinner was always a big deal for me growing up and I instilled that in my kids.

We can't do it together as we used to ...but they still do it together in each of their families.

Any occasion we bring our families together in support and love of each other is so important

We have a real Sunday dinner (but not tablecloth and flowers usually) with son and his family about every 3 weeks or so. Last two times have been BBQ-tyoe meals. But we all are at the table, even the 14 yr old, and enjoy the conversations. As for dressing up the table, it's usually just for Christmas!

I tried to revive the tradition of Sunday dinner when my daughter came home from boarding school in the UK. She often went home with a friend, and the friend's parents always had people in for a lovely Sunday dinner (some at church, others not), and then a lovely walk in the Cotswolds countryside.

I couldn't duplicate the Cotswolds, but I did cook a roast (often a pork loin) and invited people. I quickly realized that most people want to go home from church and get comfortable and either watch TV (the men) or catch up on laundry etc (the women) or perhaps go shopping. It was a total failure....

Elery and I always eat in the dining room, even if it's just eggs for breakfast, and there's always a tablecloth on the table, even if it's the little grandkids. I don't like those plastic tablecloths, so I have several cloths that I interchange, and a few seasonal ones. I don't use paper plates, I have FiestaWare that generally gets used, although I do have a set of white Pfaltzgraf as well. We seldom/never eat out and I dislike fast food (plus it's definitely not healthy), so I generally cook.

We always have Sunday dinner, sometimes just us and sometimes the kids and grandkids. Today Mother was here, so we had chicken on the grill with home made cherry BBQ sauce, some broccoli spears because Mother LOVES broccoli, homemade honey wheat rolls and rhubarb custard pie. Mother took the rolls and pie home with her, it's not on our current menu as we're still on the "eating healthy" Weight Watcher's plan.

Like Chase, we've always had Sunday dinner. I still do but my girls don't always. Amanda works midnights so alternate weekends she'll make Sunday dinner, but when she's working a weekend, she's sleeping during the day. Ashley will make dinner depending on how she feels, but more often not. Somehow people manage to show up, by chance, on Sunday afternoon. Funny, that.....

Annie

MS you're a gal after my own heart. Since my fiance and I have pretty much trashed the table in the family room, we always eat in the formal dining room now. We have almost zero places to go out that offer anything that we would want to eat, so Sunday dinner is often a formal affair for us. I don't have a lace tablecloth, but like Annie, I have several very washable ones that I interchange. I have some china inherited from my grandmother that is very much like yours, and cut glass candlesticks too. But Bubbe's china is crazed so I just mostly use it for decoration or serving very dry things where I can lightly wipe it off. Mom's china which is still in good shape is MCM. I mostly use the plain stuff because I can toss it in the dishwasher. Too afraid to do that with the heirlooms.

Martha, what a lovely table! Please tell me about your candle sticks. I bought the same pair from a gal who had collected "antiques" but was down sizing. I love them, and they sit on my dining room table every day and are the centerpiece at holidays. I know nothing about them, and I hope you can educate me. How old do you think they are?

Sheilajoyce -- I don't know much about them -- got them at an antique mall a few years ago -- because I liked them and wanted some glass singles. They are etched so Im thinking 30s or 40s but I don't know that for a fact. So you have a twin? How cool is that!

Just a suggestion for a Sunday dinner dessert that's healthy (but tastes decadent). Blueberries coming in now, so....blueberries, a little candied ginger, flaked unsweetened coconut if you like it, heavy cream. Or skip the heavy cream and use just a little maple syrup. Add cinnamon too if you like. This also works very well with frozen blueberries---just let defrost completely. Works with blackberries and raspberries as well.

Martha, I always love to see your beautiful dining room.

Sunday dinner was a tradition when I was growing up as well. Always in the dining room with a properly set table and candles and flowers :-) And dessert.......Sunday was the only day that was a regular menu item!

My sister and I often do Sunday dinner......but it is usually eaten in front of the TV if just the two of us. This past Sunday however, a couple of the "kids" came as well, including my oldest niece who is in town on business and for a family 4th of July celebration. We had a proper 'sit down' dinner at the table with grilled steaks, roasted potatoes and steamed asparagus. And vanilla ice cream and fresh local raspberries for dessert. It was wonderful!!

For us, it’s Friday nights, not Sundays, but we always have a special meal and use our best things even if it’s just us two — or even if one is out of town and it’s just one!

Is that a beautiful vintage Quaker Lace tablecloth I see? Lovely table.

Yes, it is! And I got a new one last week (well, new old) for $10 at an estate sale -- how cool is that! Love Quaker Lace!

I have dinner at my MIL every Sunday:)

I also love seeing the beautiful tables that you set Martha Scott, and this one with a lace table cloth is really special. So nice to see an elegantly set table.

I have some old damask (think this is what you would call them) white tablecloths, getting thin now as inherited from my mother and MIL. I do like to use them on special occasions but try to set a nice table anyway for Sunday Roast as we call it.

DH is English and I lived there for 12 years so a Sunday roast of either beef, pork, lamb or chicken is very traditional for us and hubby really enjoys.

I love lace tablecloths and have linen tablecloths that I almost never use. Your photos are very inspiring!

What was wrong with your fried chicken that you needed to fix? Did it need gravy or a sauce? I very seldom make fried chicken, but when I do, it generally does not need to be fixed, and so I am curious about what you did to fix it. Did you make it ahead of time a reheat it?

Fixed, Lars, meaning cooked or made. Must be a midwestern term. Like what are you "fixing" for dinner -- I'm fixing . . . rather than what are you "making" for dinner.

Also a southern thing. You can fix sole meunière for dinner, or you might be fixing to fix sole meunière later on, after you finish folding the laundry or doing your taxes. I'm fixing to make chicken stock tomorrow because I have too many people coming here today and I don't want the house to smell soupy while they're here (recirculating fan).

Aah, -- I'm from Missouri which is more Southern than Northern (think biscuits and gravy for breakfast . . . green beans slow cooked with bacon and of course, fried chicken) so that explains the "fix"

Martha, looks like a lovely meal!

At any rate, I recently in my moving downsizing mode, donated my tablecloths that look like yours. I think I'm just going to be happy dressing things up with placemats... But very cool!