Eating in the Living Room

Photo collection of Midge Frazel

The Card Table

By the time the TV arrived in our house, weekends changed. Unlike weeknights where I was fed first and then my parents ate at the tiny table in the kitchen, Mom would set up the "card table" in the living room and we ate while we watched TV. This is obviously dessert since it is near 6 PM (we ate supper at 5 PM on the dot) and my mother is having her after supper cigarette.

While my mother prepared supper and then while they ate, children's TV programming (with numerous commercials aimed at kids) started to be popular. If I say, "It's Hoody Doody Time" and you are in your middle sixties, you will know what I mean. 

Children were washed in the tub, put to bed, all before the grownups TV shows. Kids stayed in their rooms and were not allowed to interrupt. We read with a flashlight under the covers and hoped we didn't get caught not sleeping.

Of course, being an only child, I was more obedient than most and I was also spoiled more than most. But, schedules were adhered to religiously. Dishes were washed and the men read the newspaper. There was a "bedtime" routine which meant your parents read you a story.

I had a special outfit that I wore when it was cold or when I was sick called "The TV Suit". It was a quilted jacket with pants that seemed unisex not unlike the clothes people now wear all weekend. It was cotton and not scratchy like the sweater I am wearing while I eat ice cream in this photo. It was also good to wear when I was home sick from school.  I'd wear it today.