Habitual Hospitality

Image from one of our times at Emily's Tea Room, Mildenhall, Suffolk, UK

In order to get used to entertaining more, and allowing myself to relax, I've spent time speaking with G about hospitality.  I'd like to get to a point where I invite friends over more rather than going out.  It's not really a natural ability of mine to relax and just let the house be, but it's something I'm working on.

In order to get better, it's going to take making hospitality a habit.  So I'm setting goals to aim for in order to get to a place where it's normal.  A few of my goals are:

* Have a friend over for coffee/tea once a week.
* Have friends over for dinner once a month. 
* Keep things for a quick get together on hand (cheese and crackers, a cake, coffee stuff, etc)

I'm hoping at some point to make other Christian homemaker friends who can be invited over (with their children if they have them).  It would be nice to continue making friends with women who share similar philosophies about life.  And what better time to get to know someone than over a pot of tea?

How do you prepare yourself and your home for welcoming friends in?

Coffee With G

Today I'm talking on skype with G, our daily afternoon (his night) chat.  My sleep was whoa messed up because of needing to get up for things early the past couple days, so I decided that in order to not fall asleep on G, I needed coffee.  Coffee or tea with G is a goodness.  And even though he's on skype it's nice to sit at the dining table and use my china and enjoy a couple (okay a few several) cups of coffee while talking to him like he's here already.

I know that some people don't drink as much caffeine, but for me, I don't think I could ever give up coffee and tea.  First, I'm Irish and therefore convinced that tea is the cure to everything (along with a nice meal... we feed your feelings both good and bad).  And second, because sitting down with a hot drink and a friend is a comfort and time to connect.  I enjoy drinking these on my own, curled up with a good book, but will always prefer sitting with my husband or a friend. 

I'm hoping to make a weekly tea part of a hospitality ritual with close friends.  A thing we do to catch up on a Saturday morning.  Do you have a regular coffee/tea get together?

Relaxed Hospitality

Today I hosted a little lunch and afternoon tea for my friend J.  She's been fantastic about keeping me fed these last 5 months, generously inviting me over for dinner frequently.  But because I had been embarrassed at how messy my home was getting, I was nervous about having her over.  I've been working diligently to get it cleaned up and organized, but it's slow moving (for obvious reasons... naps, being the main one!).

However, I at least got the common areas tidy enough to have someone over.  In between cleaning I've been baking and cooking and freezing things galore.  And grooming the dogs, which is an exercise routine in itself.

I normally would have stuck to a simple quiche for lunch because it's a one shot meal if you eat it with a side salad, and can be prepared mostly ahead of time.  However, J can't eat pork for health reasons, and other types of quiches are usually made from throwing things together, only I didn't have things to throw together.  Instead I decided to do roasted salmon, roasted potatoes, fresh tomatoes from the CSA as a light lunch.

Of course tea was accompanied by scones with clotted cream and jam.  J had never had clotted cream, fell in love and threatened to kidnap the rest!  We took the dogs out for a walk because the weather was gorgeous and then had some time to chat later.

I enjoyed having her over so much, and hopefully she'll be dropping in again soon!  I needed a nap, so the animals (the dogs passed out before she even left), and I slept until just a bit ago when I woke up to talk to G.

Have you had a friend over recently?  I think that it's nice to be able to have coffee/tea in... particularly when accompanied by scones!