Evening routine is based on some Jewish customs that I learned from some friends. To start you must put yourself in the right frame of mind. In ancient times, when the Hebrew people were nomads, they lived in tents, similar to the yurts of today. They had carpets that they placed on the ground. During the day, the sides of the tents were rolled and folded back to allow full air circulation. At night they were rolled down and secured. The extended family would gather around the fire where they would talk, eat and share stories. As the children would fall asleep they were placed in the tent in their bedroll. There were usually enough tents to circle the fire so that it became a warm, circle of light in the wilderness of darkness. My evening routine includes dinner and the preparation for it. Before I start cooking dinner, I take 10 minutes to walk around my house and say a little prayer for each person as I stand beside his or her bed. This serves three purposes, I center myself on my God and my family, I am thinking good thoughts about my family members and I am aware of what the status of my home is. I then start dinner. If my children are home, they set the table while I cook, otherwise I set the table. I always have 2 candles on the table, which I light shortly before dinner. This is a reminder of our 2 boys who are already out in the world, but also a reminder of all of our blessings. I make sure that all laundry is in the dryer so the washer is available for things like my husbands work clothes or that outfit that is needed for a special program at school. When we sit down to dinner I take a couple of minutes to really look at each child and my husband and listen to them. This part of my routine helps keep me from getting resentful or angry about how much of the household load I carry. As I have started to learn to work on listening and helping them have a healthy self view, I am finding that I am more comfortable in my own skin. I don’t have to try and be it all or do it all. With this view I no longer find it demeaning to be a homemaker, but answering the highest calling.
After dinner we do the dishes, no matter what, they get done sometime in the evening. Sometimes the dishes don’t get done until 10:30 when we finally get the last one home from a meeting or school event. We found out that if you just do it, that it only takes 15-20 minutes to do the dishes, if you whine and fuss about it, it can take 2-4 hours.
Rest of the evening routine, I usually do a fair amount of writing and user group work on the computer in the evening. My children do their homework and research on the computer. My husband watches TV or reads. I get up and fold the load in the dryer and the family puts things away. We take 10 minutes to each check the living areas for our messes and put them away. Now our house is still a bit of a mess, but our living areas are daily getting nicer and more appealing as we follow this basic plan. We make sure and have living time in our evening routine. We try, as a family, to go through a small set of things that need to be sorted through, such as toys that have been outgrown, during the evening.