Let Them Eat Fruit

I watched a documentary about food.  Anyone who eats food comfortably and wants to continue eating in comfort should probably never watch food documentaries.

It talks about - among lots of other things - all the chemicals that companies add to our food to make it taste better so we keep buying their food.  It makes me angry and scared - which is, I'm sure, the whole point of the film.

Afterwards, it was time to get Family Home Evening together.  Lesson, song, prayers, activity... treats.  How on earth can I make treats for my family that I can feel good about after I just watched THAT?

So after the short and sweet lesson, and singing some Primary song while Angel waved her arms to lead and Georgie banged an accompaniment on the piano, we combined the activity and treats portion of the evening. We went to the grocery store and bought fruit.  Exciting, no?

I told the kids, after the initial eye-roll, that they could pick out any fruit they wanted.  After looking around the produce section, they got into it.  Alec wanted a big grapefruit, Ben a large, tart Granny Smith apple.  Chris wanted to see what a mango was like, David snagged a bag of grapes, and Eddie was thrilled that he could get a pineapple.  A whole pineapple?  Yes, dear, and we can share.  Angel, having her daddy's genes, made a beeline for Golden Delicious apples; Freddy would not leave the banana display; and Georgie pointed emphatically at a plastic box of red, juicy "drawbwees".  We spent $25 on fruit, considerably more than I would spend on an ordinary FHE treat.  But it was fun and good for us!

We got home and cut everything up.  The boys were all super at sharing, and everyone got a taste of the different fruits.  It really did turn out to be fun.  And we bought enough fruit to have some left over for the next couple of days, too.

As I've been thinking of fruit (while munching on a juicy pineapple spear), I realized that I have been putting fresh fruit in the luxury category.  It's a treat that we have only occasionally.  Why?  I guess it's because fresh fruit is expensive, and we've been living very frugally for the past few years.  But I think I'll be buying more fruit now.  Probably not that much out-of-season fruit, but more than we have been.  And pass the pineapple.