seven P.M.
It was little enough to ask for -- a return to old values , old relationships , the normalcies of the backwash instead of the freneticisms of the lime-light . It would certainly be granted to him . He slept . * * * * * Dinner was at seven P.M. His mother came ; his Uncle Joe and Aunt Lucille came . Together with Edith , Ralphie and himself , they made six , and ate in the dining room at the big table . Before he 'd become the First One , it would have been a noisy affair . His family had never been noted for a lack of ebullience , a lack of talkativeness , and Ralphie had always chosen mealtimes -- especially with company present -- to describe everything and anything that had happened to him during the day .