No matter how I set my table, no matter if it is my dining room or kitchen table, no matter what time of the day it is, I always think it looks much better...

...with people around it.  Much better!  It does not matter who those people are, whether they are family, friends, newly found friends...it just always looks better.  I think back over the last years of my life and I can tell you, anytime I sat at a friend's table for meals or for coffee, the memories are there.  I read in a hospitality book, that "the greatest compliment you can give to someone, is to invite them into your home."  I certainly am not talking about entertaining.  There is a time and place for that, although it does not happen often in my home.  I am talking about hospitality.  Opening up your heart and home to others.  It is one of my favorite ways to spend time, whether the invitation is to our home, or to us to visit in someone else's home.  There is just something so special about sitting around a table and sharing with others.

 This evening, we took dinner to our daughter and son-in-law's home to help celebrate my husband's 59th birthday.  Yes, it was quite busy and noisy throughout the dinner.  The soft background music and candles were replaced with the six children seated around the table, but we had a wonderful time.  The hot apple pie pulled from the oven, was the "birthday cake" of choice.  We talked, and laughed, and sang "Happy Birthday" with this special family.  It will be another treasured memory for this grandma.  You see, I find hospitality uplifting, encouraging, and can make one feel so cared for, in my book.  I feel so strongly about this, that throughout the next months, I will be sharing some shortcuts I have learned in regards to having others into your home.  Perhaps, it may prompt you to practice some hospitality with others.  Or, perhaps you are some of the ones who practice this art freely and have in turn prompted and encouraged me to do the same.  I'd like to share some helpful advice that I learned from my mother, one of the most hospitable ladies I know, and some hints from some of my favorite books on hospitatity.

 In closing, I will tell you that the group of people pictured around our kitchen table, were the groom's family and their close lifelong friends(who we met for the first time that evening).  Just looking at the picture reminds me of the wonderful people they were and the fun we had together two evening before our the wedding.

Tomorrow is a special birthday and I have work to do before the morning.