The gift of hospitality

I was sitting here thinking about how blessed I am to have so many wonderful friends and how each of them have a special gift that brings something new and different to our relationships.

I am going to try and do at least one friend profile a month. I have so many to choose from so this may take a LONG time.

The first one I am going to do is my friend Winifred. I am fairly certain you think I have made her up because I have zero pictures of us together. I am not even sure I have any of her that she would let me put on here. But I swear she is real!

Her gift is definitely hospitality. She has lots of other ones, but this is the one that I think of when I think of her. She loves to host parties and have hundreds of people over even when she is one week from having baby #6!

From the moment you come in the door you feel at home and relaxed. When I went for a work weekend recently I left feeling like I had a been to a mini-retreat instead of baking for 4 hours. She has this incredible knack for thinking of all the little things that perfectly finish an event, drink or dish. Nothing is left out and she often goes above and beyond what most people would to make you feel welcome.

Here are some of the ways that she exercises her gift. She thinks through all the logistics of coming and has a game plan in place that can be quickly executed and changed smoothly if necessary. She knew where everybody was going to sleep and had all the bedding ready. The bathrooms were spotless and fresh towels out already. The next morning she had a percolator of hot water ready with cups and several type of drink mixes ready. Breakfast was simple yet tasty. She had cups with markers laid out.

We worked most of the morning, but we took a break to have a tasty lunch. She had loads of sandwich fixings, pizzas that she made by hand and chocolate chip cookies. Please remember she was feeding 14 people both days that we were there.

Dinner was super delicious too. Chicken sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and french fries. She had several kinds of chicken patties to make sure everyone had something that they liked. She made sure the boys that went to the basketball game had some hot food when they came home. I started craving more cookies and ice cream. She had cookie dough in the freezer that we pulled out and popped into the oven for some warm, gooey cookies.

She will often have movies on hand just for the kiddos. She will plan some activities or other things to give the younger guys things to do that make them feel included. My kids love coming here because they know not only will they see their friends but they will get some yummy food. That is always the first thing they tell me about when I ask them if they had fun.

I never have to take any food because she is always so prepared. I am always so happy when people offer to bring stuff because I can never remember anything. I swipe at the toilets and maybe remember to put out extra toilet paper. I love having people over, but very seldom have everything together like this friend does.

Thanks for teaching me to be more thoughtful of people's needs and how to add some extra touches that make people feel special and cared for!