Are ya ready for some football? Well, are ya? While there has already been a regular season game to start off the ‘official’ return of football — to most football fans, the football season does not truly begin until 1 p.m. rolls around on Sunday! September 11, 2016 marks the start of Football Sunday. To some people, Football Sunday marks the beginning of the fall season, beer, and snack food all day. For many others though, football Sunday marks the start of true family time.

Personally, Football Sunday always meant relaxation regardless of whether your favorite team was playing or not. When I was young, I hated football. I’m a girl, why should girls like football? However, as I grew older, I realized that gathering around the TV to watch football really was a bonding time for me and whoever I was with. Sundays meant time with my father and step-mother. On occasion, my older brothers or sister would come over and enjoy the game. As I said, when I was younger, I was very bored. I didn’t understand the game and I didn’t understand why they all enjoyed it so much. Big guys were chasing around and throwing themselves all over the field to get a brown colored ball. The only fun I ever got out of it was being able to pick my favorite kind of chips for the day!

However, the older that I got, the more I started to realized that I was looking forward to Sundays and spending the time with my family. My dad would take the time to explain to me what was going on in the game, I would start talking to everyone about which player I liked and it was always fun to root for a team I liked (any of the New York teams) and who we just couldn’t stand (the Patriots!!!). My team choices may have been slightly influenced at that point.

Now that I have a family of my own, Football Sunday is a tradition that has becoming increasingly important to me. Even though my little boy is only 2 years old, I want him to be able to enjoy his Sundays with his family and that goes true for my youngest son when he comes in December, )even though the season will almost be over by that time). To me it means spending time together, spoiling them a little with their favorite treats and being able to tune out the chaos that may be going on around us at the time. While football certainly does not last all year round, my goal is to be able to have the ideas associated with Football Sunday to last every single Sunday.

Enjoy the season!