Scruffy hospitality—great idea

We're experiencing lots of hospitality while in Australia. It is one of the joys (and challenges*) of being on home assignment. 

Last weekend we stayed overnight with an older couple. The wife apologised for her "scruffy" house. But I felt very much at home. They hadn't made a big effort to tidy up for us, but their attitudes were welcoming and open. We didn't end up spending much time with them, because we had dinner at the church on Saturday night and went to bed soon after we came home. But on Sunday morning they cooked up a simple, but yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast, and we had lively conversation.

Teresa, my good friend in Tokyo, is fantastic
at Scruffy Hospitality!

The boys felt welcomed too, not in the least by the announcement that the house included an "armoury". The wife has been very involved in various children's theatrical performances over the years and had a lovely collection of weapon and shield props.

Here's an article about Scruffy Hospitality, that I recommend to you! I certainly am guilty of insisting I make meals from scratch for guests, but then I do that for my own family too and they are generally fairly simple recipes. However I'm not guilty of spending excess amounts of time tidying up prior to having guests. I'm not guilty of making the table look amazing, or providing meals that have taken hours to prepare and include hard-to-get ingredients.

I absolutely agree that authentic conversation is the most important thing. That's something that's not easy to come by, but is on top of my list of what makes a great time together with friends or family.

So, if we end up at your place I won't be judging. If you end up at mine, you won't find it perfect. But let's have a great conversation!

*Challenges, because it means quite a busy schedule, more busy than we're used to at nights and weekends.  It also means a lot of "new" people for our boys to meet. Most of the people we meet are known to us, but the boys don't remember them.