Growing up, we didn't keep a TV in the Living Room.

The TV resided in the basement, and we visited it from time to time, but we didn't LIVE with it. We never ate meals in front of it.

I will admit here, that we rarely ate meals at the Dining room table either and we often ate at different times (a side effect of having parents that worked 16 plus hours a day).

A typical night would involve my Dad cooking dinner and the rest of us grabbing plates as we either got hungry, or got home.

My Mom would usually be home last and she would grab her food and a glass of wine and head into the living room. The rest of us, eager to share our days, would follow her and keep her company while she ate.

We usually lit candles, sometimes we had a fire in the fireplace; soft music in the background and a dog or two at our feet.

We sat, curled in our favourite spots, on couches and lazy-boys, facing each other and we talked.

We talked about our days, about our projects, our boyfriends, our friends.

We teased each other, and joked around.

We played a lot of board games and card games.

Essentially, we lived there.

We were with each other, not just around each other.