My husband calls it “my sickness.”  I can’t stop inviting people over.  I love having company.

Inviting people into our space makes me feel close to them.

Our house is deeply personal to me because we have worked so hard to make it our own.  Inviting friends into the space that makes me the most comfortable makes me feel closer to them.  I am most at home in my own space.  My hope is that everyone that comes through our door can feel that .  Put your feet up, relax, help yourself.  I am glad you’re here

Kids make the best guests ever!

There are no “fancy” rooms here, no formal dining or living room.  Instead we have an impressive collection of bean bags and a basketball hoop in the basement and a yard that needed mowed two weeks ago. We like kids and the noise and dirt that comes with them.  Don’t even get me started on the stacks on the kitchen counter.  (I’m really not that messy.  It’s “strewing”; an intentional educational strategy!  Sure, that’s it!)

Kids are my absolute favorite people to host.  They don’t care if your toilet is dirty and you eat peanut butter and jelly for three meals in a row.  Kids just need a place to be and they make their own fun.  No prep work needed.

Honestly, I get a ton of work done when my kids have friends over because the kids are running in a wild pack and certainly don’t need me to orchestrate anything. Allowing our kids to host their own friends gives us an opportunity to get to know their friends and for our kids to make awesome memories that center around the idea of “home.”

Home is fun.

My husband calls it "my sickness."  I can't stop inviting people over.  I love having company.

I’m a bit of a hermit/introvert.

I like having some control over the guest list.  As much as I would  like to say keeping an eye on who my kids are hanging out with is a priority this one is mostly selfish.  I’m an introvert.  Large groups make me want to stay at home & read. But, having a friend or two over for coffee while our kids play is golden.  Small groups mean a more genuine connection in my book.

We don’t do fancy.  Staying home is easy.

It’s easy to stay home.  When my kids were younger and I had four littles staying home was always the easier option.  There were nap schedules and food issues to accommodate. My kids are older now and we are on the run a lot.   When we are in someone else’s space I notice  that I censor my kids behavior more, shush them more, basically ask them to be a more inhibited version of themselves.

 Maybe it’s because three of my four are boys and boy energy seems to build exponentially upon itself.  We live in the country. We have no neighbors and they are used to free reign.  Maybe it’s just that I pay too much attention to their behavior and not enough to everyone else to notice that they are just kids like everyone else.  In any case, I do love being out and about with my kids.  But it also brings some anxiety to be sure they are “behaving.”  (I’m working on it.)

But when we are home there is a sense of ease.  They know the boundaries and I’m a little less anxious about their volume, size, and velocity through space.

My husband calls it "my sickness."  I can't stop inviting people over.  I love having company.

Even introverts need people.  I just like to pick my people.

I love the peace and quiet when guests go home. Everyone’s social quota has been filled.  Only me and my people are left. Its kind of like that feeling when you come home after having been gone for a long period and home just feels so good, except with the added benefit of never having to leave the house.

All this being said about my love of hosting does not mean I will decline when you invite my children to your house.  There are four of them. Invite them.  I will be right over.

My husband calls it "my sickness."  I can't stop inviting people over.  I love having company.

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Do you enjoy hosting?  Do you dislike it but do it anyway?