You're describing a topic that's been on my mind for the past few days. After the gluttony of the holidays I am fed, so to speak. At first one looked forward to the rich meal, but after it had been eaten, it hardly seemed worth the effort to serve up another, equally sumptuous one. The excess of available food is so satiating that I sometimes detest it. It is downright repugnant to me. I see that the normality and availability of food pushes me back to a position of renunciation. I sometimes starve deliberately so that I can relive what it is like to eat and be content with what is there. We have thrown a lot away in anticipation of bringing too little to the table. What a waste of energy. The habit of hoarding food and watching it spoil because you've bought too much is negligible. The abundance does me no good and I counter it by making sure that there is a lack.

This is sometimes unpleasant for my son. Yesterday in the late evening he got hungry and I replied: "It doesn't matter that you are hungry. Diet a little, it's no harm that you don't always get a need fulfilled."
In this way he turns to what is left. So all the apples that are otherwise spurned are eaten and what else is waiting in the fridge. I only shop again when there is nothing left to prepare anything from.

I don't appreciate the fine things until I have missed them for a while. To create this self-regulation artificially is a form of discipline that I acquired over time without really noticing it. But it certainly stemmed from the experience of throwing too much good into the trash. We live even better today than the French kings or the Roman emperors. But it by no means fills the perceived emptiness. Spirituality is something that satisfies some people's hunger.

The meal together, as in the pictures you chose, seems to me like a past relic. Modern people eat alone. Mostly arbitrary and without any ritual. I neglected to express an appreciation on Christmas Eve and that's how it feels now: neglected.

I did not dare to take on the role of my mother, who as spiritual leader at least said a prayer of thanksgiving when the food was served. Maybe next time I will have a little more courage and initiative.