In her new book, The Family Dinner, Laurie David talks about the importance of families making a ritual of sitting down to dinner together, and how family dinners offer a great opportunity for meaningful discussions about the day's news. "Dinner," she says, "is as much about digestible conversation as it is about delicious food."
We couldn't agree more. So HuffPost has joined with Laurie to launch a new feature we're calling HuffPost Family Dinner Downloads. Every Friday afternoon, just in time for dinner, our editors highlight one of the most compelling news stories of the week -- stories that will spark a lively discussion among the whole family.
The family can gather around the laptop, smartphone, or iPad -- or just print out the post and pass it around the table. Each Dinner Download will end with a question or two that we hope will get everyone thinking and sharing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
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This week, the news was filled with stories of the thousands of families stranded by the big snowstorms that hit the Northeast right in the midst of one of the busiest travel periods of the year. Many made the best of a bad situation by extending their holiday trips. Others weren't so lucky and were stranded at crowded airports - and some were even stuck on airplanes. The old saying that "patience is a virtue" was certainly put to the test!
What does "patience is a virtue" mean to you? How would you have reacted if you'd had to spend Christmas at an airport? What could stranded families have done to turn this experience into one of those situations where "if life hands you lemons, you make lemonade"? Does it make a difference that the problem was caused by weather, not by a mistake the airlines made? Can you think of a time when your family had to make the best of a bad situation?
Subscribe to receive HuffPost Family Dinner Downloads by email every Friday afternoon.
For more tips and recipes, check out The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time by Laurie David and Kirstin Uhrenholdt.