While we don’t have table-setting issues anymore, not all is calm and tranquil on our side of town just yet

Sometimes when I’m having a more exhausting week than usual, some well-intentioned friend or acquaintance will say, “Hang in there, it’s almost Shabbos!”

It’s obvious to me that they mean that if I can just make it through the rest of the week, Shabbos will be a day of Rest, Relaxation, and Recharging, as I leave my weekday worries behind and soak in the holiness of the day with beautiful seudos, divrei Torah, and perhaps even a Shabbos afternoon nap.

It is equally obvious to me that this person has never spent Shabbos in a house full of little boys.

Don’t get me wrong — Shabbos in our house is beautiful.

My table is set to perfection. My kids are even old enough that I can set it well in advance before my husband comes home from shul — and I don’t take that for granted.

There were years in my parenting career when I was surrounded by toddlers, and I knew that if I set the table five minutes too early, it would be completely undone and destroyed within 30 seconds. The only viable option was to set the table right before we actually sat down, and even then, we had to take turns washing for challah because if there was no adult supervision at the table, plates would be flying, salt would be everywhere, drinks would be spilled, and every child present would be blaming his brother. (If this is the stage you’re in right now, don’t worry. I’m fairly certain this is not a “chuppah problem”; by the time your child is ready to walk down the aisle, he will have conquered the temptation to wreak havoc on a set table. I think.)