The Art of Gathering

This past fall, Jason and I both read a book called The Art of Gathering, and we both loved it. I have used a number of ideas from the book in my teaching (as teaching is much like hosting an event and being a community gatherer). We also loved her suggestions for dinner parties in the book so we sent out an invite to test out her ideas....

Below is the invitation we sent out to the group from ideas we got from the book... 

Dear friends, 

Thank you for joining us in the next iteration of our infamous Codswallop dinner.  This time we'll be toning down the theme and activity (a bit) to ensure we get to some deeper reflections together.  

For the evening we'd like each of you to bring a story and toast--but not just any toast and story, a special one (and not the bread kind).  Your must bring a story "that changed the way you view the world."  Your telling of this story/toast will share with us one significant way in which you've change your perspective on the world.

Guidelines for the evening: 

1) Each person will bring their story to share and take turns sharing them.  Bonus points if no one else knows this story (but no pressure given that spouses will be in the house).

2) People may choose when to share theirs.

3) Each person will signify the end of their story by leading a toast to the key theme from the story--to signal when you are done raise a glass to the lesson behind it.

4) The last person to share their toast will be required to sing the first two lines of their story.

Food and Drink Directions:

1.  Bring a drink of choice to share with the group

2.  Bring 1-2 appetizers that would fit into a tapas theme for dinner (we'll provide dessert)

Time and Place:  Saturday, January 25th, 7:00 pm--Chez Huff

We cannot wait to hear your stories!

Emily and Jason

I'll say that the evening was a wonderful success and we shared some pretty amazing stories around the table. With such a sweet group of people, we just need to start these evenings earlier or just have a slumber party with everyone as we didn't want the night to end... :) 

Poppy contributed to the evening with her sweet presence... 

Too funny--- Bill is holding a Chinese New Year gift given to Elizabeth by one of her patients. 

The dragon was a lovely centerpiece!