A quaint little family story, gleaned from my recent visit with my sister:

I grew up the youngest of seven children.  Guests were a part of every Sunday dinner and we probably averaged 15-20 people around the extended table.  At times our family lived hand to mouth, (or prayer to prayer) but my mom was a pro.fess.ion.al. at making enough food to fill everyone up.  However, occasionally it appeared that there might not be enough to go around.

When that happened, FHB was whispered and passed from kid to kid.  It was a code for “Family Hold Back”, an signal to take smaller portions or pass the bowl by to make sure the guests were served first.

As with many of our family stories, I can’t remember this; but I love the story!  I don’t know anything about Lorraine Russell’s book – just found it on Google images!