Dinnertime and talk: What are your suggestions for our topic jar?

I must say that one of things I think I have gotten right is mealtime. This is a "requirement" at our house.  We must sit down at least 3 time a week together and have a meal.

Growing up I didn't have a dinnertime.  I remember we always did what I currently institute in our house as "Fin for ya-self Friday."  But in my earlier years we were "finnin'" everyday.  I am pretty sure that was because my mom didn't know how to cook (OK Ma, you can make a mean queso) and plus she worked all the time.  So I know that when I decided that I wanted to be married and have a family, that was one of the many things I wanted to have as part of my family lifestyle.

I had to teach myself how to cook, thank goodness, it came easy and I followed my instincts, but nowadays, many young women and men, don't know how to do some of the basics and in my opinion that is scary.  But I digress.  When I met David, one of the things I noticed was that his family did have family dinners.....

EVERY NIGHT!! 

They gathered, set the table, they sat down, prayed and ate together.  I would listen to every one's conversation and just have a internal smile, because that is what I wanted for my family.  Wendell, would tell his jokes, some of them we have heard hundreds of times, but I actually love to hear him tell them, you can see the joy in his eyes when he's trying you make you laugh.  Debbie, trying to make sure everyone has what they need and enough and the kids, well, everything was being talked about all at once.  I was so warm and I for one felt of the love in the chaos of ritual.

Now David and I have our own family and we love to eat together.  There is plenty of laughter at our dinner table.  I hope that the boys learn that dinnertime is not just for food, but a time that we all can share together, feel the love of family and that it a place to talk about anything and everything. 

The one thing, I think I want to start with my family is a topic jar.  I think that would be a great way to have even more interesting conversations at the table.

"What are some of your suggestions to have in a topic jar?" -please leave your comment here so everyone can see it and not repeat it

(I'll post the gist of the conversations for y'all.  I am sure this could be pretty funny, given the spectrum of opinions we have in this house.)

No we don't do it every night, but I hope that as the boys get older and schedules go this way and that, hopefully we can always find one another at the dinner table.