Hospitality

For 't is always fair weather

When good fellows get together

With a stein* on the table and a good

song ringing clear.

(Richard Hovey - Spring)

*or maybe just a glass of iced tea

Recently, John and I have started making an effort to have people over more often; in other words, we are trying to practice hospitality. We really enjoy having others in our home, although it is added work -- which is worth it! While I know that we have a long way to go, I have come up with a few tips that I use to make having people over a little easier. (By the way, these tips are not for "fancy" entertaining; rather, I find these tips to be helpful for an informal supper together with another family.) Since we want our children to be naive about having guests over, we want to have people over often. If we are going to do something often, it needs to be as simple and easy as possible.

• Clean house earlier in the week. If you plan to have someone over for supper on Friday night, don't wait until Friday to clean your house. Of course, you will have to do some last minute touch-ups on Friday before your guests arrive, but the deep cleaning can be done earlier in the week.
• Don't worry about the toys. If you have children, there will be toys. Don't worry about it! If the family you invite over has children also, the toys will just come out as soon as they arrive. If your guests don't have children, they will still overlook a few toys. (If not, you probably should rethink having them over!)
• Prepare the meal early. Again, don't wait until the last minute to prepare supper. A casserole can be made the day ahead or even earlier in the day and just cooked in the oven when it's time to eat. Crock pots are wonderful, too; I have made spaghetti at noon and stuck it in the crock pot until supper time. (Spaghetti gets better with a little age, don't you agree?!)
• Set the table. No, not really, if your children are anything like mine. If I were to set the table before our guests arrive, my children would think it was time for supper. When they didn't get any, the fussing would start. Or they would play with the silverware. Yuck! You may not be able to set the table, but you can get the silverware, plates, and glasses out. That way, when your guests arrive and she asks if she can help, you can have her set the table, that is, of course, if you are busy with something else!
• Have an empty dishwasher. You don't have to have it completely empty, but you go through a bunch of dishes when you have company over. You want to be able to throw everything in after your guests leave so you don't have to worry about it in the morning.
• Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't go through your house with a fine tooth comb, trying to find every single thing that needs to be put away. Your guests likely will not notice a few things, and you will only cause yourself unnecessary anxiety. (On the other hand, it is nice to use the "excuse" of company to find homes for things that may not have them yet. Just do it before the last minute!)

What things do you do to make practicing hospitality easier? Please share! Since we are still kind of new at this thing, we can use all the help we can get.

Chari at Fresh from the Chari Tree had a good post about unexpected hospitality that you ought to read, too.