Sunday? Where did you go??

This is something I have been thinking about for a long time.

When I was a kid Sunday was family day. We all went to Gram’s for dinner on the first day of the week. I played with my cousins, we bugged the crap out of my Pap, and the grown-ups talked. I’m pretty sure this was pretty common among American families ‘back in the day’?

That was 30 years ago, and as far as I know, everything was closed. Right? You couldn't go out to eat, go shopping, or do much of anything because nothing was open on Sunday.

When, why, and whose idea was it to steal family day away from us?? I’m sure your answer will be money, right? So sad.

I think doing away with “Closed Sunday” really did some damage to our culture here in the US.

I still call Sunday ‘family day’, and reserve that day to be spent with my children, but it isn't the same.

reply to post by MidnightSunshine


I haven't got any kids but i still believe that Sunday is a family day, or relax day. I cook Sunday lunch every week to give my wife a break because she is my carer. Sunday to me is a Chillax day, Chilled, and relaxed.

reply to post by Ferryman


GOOD! That's good, we all need to chillax on Sunday!! Too many of us don't or can't though.

I've been out in this crazy world on Sunday... It;s Just like any other day now

reply to post by MidnightSunshine

Its hard to respond to this because some of those Sunday memories make my head ache.

In our household there were no days off. We were busy all week and Sunday was no different. Everyone was up early and dressed up to go to boring old church. And I mean little kid suit and bow tie boring old church and sunday school. After that hell on earth, we changed out and went for a "drive", usually in the Santa Cruz mountains.

I used to get car sick all the time. When I think back on it, I was such a burden... we had to stop so I could wretch in the bushes. My dad would get mad at me for being sick. So I wouldn't tell anyone and hurl in the car and that made him even madder. I t never crossed his mind I suppose that maybe we could go some place else and avoid the drama. I guess he got a cruel satisfaction out of it all.

The good memories of those day was the destination. Usually a state park that everyone else went too, that had trails, big trees and giant Banana Slugs that seemed to enthrall us to no end. Sometimes we spread a blanket and had a picnic with all the red ants and yellow jackets. It was enormously ordinary. The only relief I got was returning home at the end of the day so I could shower up and change (again). Then we usually had some dinner that gagged me all over with brussel sprouts and cabbage.

Eat, Eat! and, "Leave the kids alone!" was the usual yelling match at the table. If we were real lucky and there wasn't a major emotional meltdown by then, we would all curl up in front of the black and white rabbit eared antennized TV and watch Walt Disney or Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins. After an hour of abusing the animals and Tinker Bell, we would traipse off to bed, thoroughly exhausted and totally destroyed physically, emotionally and spiritually.

That happened every Sunday. I used to dread Sundays. Have a nice day.

I remember as a kid going to Sunday school or standing in a cold damp church in my village. I only went for the tea an biscuits. But I do remember it more as a family day because none of the shops were open. Then I rember Sharing a bath with my brother while listening to the uk top 40. Sometimes I would record it , dubbing out the speaking of the dj.

Then I would watch Bullseye and Howard's Way then get ready for bed and school the next day.with that feeling in the pit f your stomach f not wanting the weekend to end.

Sundays can be fun when looking back at it. Look up Blue Laws and you will see how much time have changed over the years.
I can remember Blue Law Sunday and fish fridays as a kid. Had to eat fish at school even though I wasn't Catholic. Wow, how times have changed. I think it is better.

reply to post by intrptr


Oh intrptr, Im so sorry to bring up these awful memories

Sorry to tell ya though, I'm sooooo glad I did!! That was so enjoyable to read, thank you for posting your Sunday hell story

reply to post by woodwardjnr

listening to the uk top 40

HEY I remember that too!! Forgot all about the top fouty on the raido, we always listened to that toooo! Thanks wood

reply to post by NiteNGale2

I think it is better.

I don't


Guess you had to be there though right? I HATED fish as a kid, yuk!!!

reply to post by MidnightSunshine

Actually, I laughed my ass off the whole time I was typing it out. Thats what keeps me sane about them days is the lunacy of it all. Kids have this defense mechanism that prevents them from being melted. At least I did.

I thought everyone behaved that way. I have always just questioned why people do the stupid stuff they do. Thanks for reminding me of me...

Oh no don't mention Sunday School to me.
The memory of that brings nightmares to me. I remember going to Sunday school which is a laugh because my parents wasn't religious, and there was this wizened up old prune of a teacher (Female) that was small, and looked like an Hobgoblin, and moved about the classroom like a vulture.
She used to tell us stories from the Bible with one or two embellishments, and she used to scare the crap out of us 5 year olds by depicting what would happen to us if we didn't let Jesus into our lives.
She conjured up pictures of Hell in my my mind, burning souls, Devils with pitchforks, and the like, and she used to get right up close to you with her bad breath (I'm sure i have smelled anything like that to this day) it was a mixture of Gin, and something else i couldn't identify Yeauch.
She was like a venomous old harpy, and i couldn't wait to get home. As soon as i did get home i cried, and refused to go ever again, i had nightmares for weeks. So you see that's why i'm not religious to this day, that's no way to speak to a five year old, she dead now, and i suppose she is facing her own demons?.

I liked Sunday School. Our little old Lady looked and acted about like Mrs. Claus. she always had a craft. Often it was a map of the world or of the Bible Lands. I am still good at geography because of Sunday School, not real school. We usually got a snack as well.

Church was boring all right. I like the people in our church and grew up in a small town, so I know those families and grew up with their kids from kindergarten to high school.

Our church had a big potluck dinner once a month, and for big holidays like thanksgiving and Christmas. The pies made by the old ladies (like my Sunday school teacher) were incredible and you never see them any more. No store bought crusts (didn't exist yet), and with an interlaced or braided upper crust, or with little slits like in cartoons. Usually a smoked ham or brisket.

In the summer there were church picnics or ice-cream parties (all home-made!) in the park.

All of that was real food, the best in the world. And yet none of those people ever got fat....

After church we went home. At this time of year, dad sat in his throne in front of a football game. We had to do homework or take a nap. After homework or nap we kids might go fishing, or build a school project or go hunting out past the edge of town.

There were no stores open, except for the 2 groceries (not supermarkets!) that were open from 1-6 pm. Maybe 1 gas station was open. You couldn't spend money in that town on Sunday.

I miss the break from consumerism.

When I was a kid it was the same. Sundays ( actually weekends for the most part ) were enshrined as family time. My parents were awesome about keeping us involved in activities. For example - we lived in Nashua, New Hampshire at that time - and we'd often take day trips to historical sites, Revolutionary War battlefields, Salem Mass, upstate NY, etc.

Now? My kids are grown and didn't live with me due to divorce anyway - but I have watched my younger sister and her family. Their weekends are the opposite. My sister pays her kids exorbitant amounts of cash to get out of the house and stay gone! My sister is overworked. Her husband says he is ( lazy SOB ) and they both go mental about weekends... Weekends are THEIR time. THEY need to recharge. So, the kids have to go.

From my own experience as a "family man", from years ago... Weekends in my case lost their meaning because I worked in a 24/7/365 industry. Weekends and holidays were mandatory work days for me. I would be lucky if I were off on Tuesday and maybe Thursday. I rarely even got two days off in a row - and often had to work six or seven days a week anyway. So that demand upon me caused my children to miss out on the things I had enjoyed as a child.

So... given my own experiences I'd have to say three things happened:

1) Society changed and created a demand for 24/7/365 comforts and services. Everything needs to be open always because nobody wants to wait until Monday morning anymore for anything.

2) Business, in response, learned to put greed before morals - answered the demand - and now "quality of life" and family issues are no longer relevant.

3) We, as a people, have become infinitely more selfish than we were a generation ago. It's ME ME ME now. Maybe we're overworked. Maybe we're just spoiled. Maybe both. But now we tend to view free time as OUR time and not family time.

~Heff

reply to post by Hefficide


Germany had something akin to the "blue laws" of the American South and Midwest, where nothing could be sold on Sunday except essentials. When I was there it was illegal to run a lawn mower on Sunday, at least in the city where I was staying.

It isn't true that you cannot have a modern technological society that takes a communal day off once a week.

I think (US) society has gotten FAR more venal since about 1980.

I can remember the scandal of ads FOR PROFIT on the sides of city buses and benches. It was fought over in editorials as being an intrusion, an assault, on public non-commercial space and peace. Now every pixel of urban space is "hosted" by some corporate entity.

You hardly see an empty lot in a subdivision, unless it is fenced off. And even if it's open access, you wont see the neighborhood kids starting up a game of sandlot baseball--kids today don't play outside or know how to organize into teams, since teams are too competitive.

Just telling my kids about packaging that wasn't recycled but was re-used: jelly jars intended to be used as juice-glasses. Coffee cans made to hold nuts and bolts on your dad's work-bench out in the garage. Paper sacks were great for crafts as well as lining wastebaskets. Mayonnaise jars for catching fireflies in. Newspapers and paper milk cartons, but somehow we generated less trash back then.

Anyway. Sunday after church was the only day my family ate out, unless we had gone to the big city for shopping (about 4 Saturdays per year). But on Sundays we'd eat in one of the local restaurants. Pray that the preacher went short, so we could beat the baptists to the buffet line and get some deviled eggs and hot rolls. On a rare occasion we'd drive to the next larger town and eat some seafood, If we did go to the big city on a Sunday afternoon, it was to take my mom to the symphony and eat some Chinese food.

Ugh, i want to live in simpler times...Screw this hustle and bustle....

Thanks for your Sunday stories. I enjoyed them But, It's sad to think things will never be like that again.


Thanks Heff, for spelling out what I was thinking.