We'd been talking about wanting to invite people over for dinner for a while. But we always put it off thinking we didn't have time to get the house looking perfectly tidy, things weren't the way we wanted them, etc. The seat cushions on all the crummy dining chairs we have seem to be all coming unscrewed at one time, our big brown lounge chair needs desperately to be recovered, I'd like our front entryway table to have less junk piled on it and instead have a lovely curated display welcoming anyone who enters into our home.
So guess what we did? We invited our friends over anyway with one day's notice. The Man made the invitation on Sunday afternoon and Monday night we were hosting a dinner. Monday turned out to be a crazy, busy day too, so we had very little time to prepare. I prepared the menu, The Man prepared the house.
Bursting at the seams as we are in this place, there are some areas that should not be storage that are. So he was scrambling to make the main living space look presentable and welcoming. He did a pretty great job from where we started and I remembered yet again that sometimes one of the best ways to get things done is to give oneself a ridiculously tight deadline.
Did the house look perfect? -- No.
Did some of our furniture look a little more worn than I would've liked? -- Yes.
Were there a few little messy spots still? -- Yes.
Would I have liked to have washed the front entry rug and sweep off the balcony. -- Yes.
Did we have fun anyway? -- YES!
Did our guests enjoy looking at the artwork we have created around our home with our own hands? -- Yes.
Did our guests spend their night looking for imperfections in our home? -- No.
Our guests were far happier not to have to make dinner, to get out of their house for a while, break up their routine, eat some delicious food and have fun and laugh with us. It was a good experience to have to let things be imperfect and still be able to have a perfectly lovely time with friends.
I'm not going to get so hung up on what people think about our home and just try to be a great hostess and make them feel welcome and give them a happy time while they are here. It's amazing how much happiness and enjoyment we will put off for the sake of things not being perfect...as if they ever, ever are or were in the first place. Lesson learned....trying to remember it.
image design by kalanicut with a little help from PicMonkey
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