More than cooking in the kitchen

Lately I have realized that my kitchen is the engine of my home.  It is the epicenter of everything that happens in our family.  With Christmas behind us and the New Year right around the corner I spent several hours in the kitchen cooking and baking, which only makes sense because that is what one would assume I have been doing in the kitchen.  However, it has occurred to me in the past few days that my kitchen is much more than a place to cook and eat.  My kitchen doubles as a hair and nail salon (especially when the Princess is home).  It sometimes resembles an explosion of a Gander Mountain or Cabelas store when Byron comes in and decides to drape every last dining table chair with camo clothing!  The kitchen is sometimes used as a therapy office where advice that is appreciated and sometimes not appreciated is given freely while sitting at the table.  It is a nurturing place where both of my girls have learned many life lessons while standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes.  When we bought the house it had a dishwasher but after a few years it stopped working, it was right about the time that the girls were big enough to help wash dishes so we opted not to replace the unit.  Believe me there have been many times that I have wished for a dishwasher, but I wouldn't trade the conversations that the girls and I have had while gathered at the sink for anything,  Some of those conversations have been very serious.  Conversations about life and love, and conversations about what kind of prom dress and shoes they wanted.  Whatever the topic, I am fairly certain that we would not have enjoyed them so much had we not been standing there with a sink full of hot water and suds!  Indeed, the kitchen is used for so many other things besides cooking.  Just tonight it was used as a dance floor while Lena sang the Little Drummer Boy to me over and over and over.   There is usually music playing in the kitchen so sometimes the dancing just happens.  Yes, the kitchen is for so much more than cooking.  It is the place in my home that I feel very safe.  The place where I want my children to remember learning those life lessons and a place that I will always want to spend my days.  Even as I am typing this blog, I am doing so at the kitchen table.  Another use....a home office....hummm with tax time right around the corner I am wondering if I can claim that?  Home is truly the place where memories are created and I say most of our memories were created right here in the kitchen!