July 2024
Hello Dear Reader // Hoi lieve lezer,
Thanks for subscribing to our Kaapsche Hollandsche Monthly Table Talk.
Hello July, goodbye June 2024.
In our June Table talk, we spoke about “how to let go”.
When we founded Kaapsche Hollandsche in 2020, it all started with the art of table setting and facilitating relationships around the table. The purpose was not only to create a beautiful setting but even more important to facilitate a safe environment for people to open up their hearts, enjoy food and each other.
Eating together is a small act but has big impact.
God prepares a table for you (read Psalm 23) He loves strangers into family. He is the greatest host! We were all strangers at some time. Someone reached out to us and invited us around their table. It warmed your heart and we witnessed the power of love in full action.
When you prepare your home for guests it can be overwhelming as you feel responsible for all the details. Don’t!
What if I told you that the secret purpose of hosting is that we do it together!
This is not the same as entertaining where the focus lies on you. Your house, your food, your decor, your style, your candles, your table, your silver etc… Hospitality is so much more than entertaining; so much more than menus and decorating and putting on a show.
Hosting is something else: it means organizing my life in such a way that there’s always room for one more.
It is learning to facilitate and shift the focus from food to the well being of people.
Here is a summary of how I try to make it work:
Find a home with a beautiful big table. Ask the host if she would open up her place for you to decorate and set the table. Your Kaapsche Hollandsche table linen, her crockery and cutlery and glasses. You invite 5 guests and the table owner also invites 5 guests if you are in for some adventure!
You ask for someone else to bring the flowers/ greenery. Another the wine. The friend who does great cakes or pastries she can bring dessert.
We share the load. Salads, platters and snacks each one brings something to the table.
Then comes the more important part, the sharing of stories around the table.
Be purposeful; Be prayerful. This table is set apart for His purpose; try to have conversation starters in your head.
Here are some examples of potential starting questions. It opens the heart and you get to know a person better.
“What do you find the most irritating habit in people/ friends and why?”
“What would be your dream holiday?”
“What was your most embarrassing moment in your life so far?”
“How was your week? What was the high and what was the low?”
“Who would you like to dine with and why?”
“How did you meet so and so?” (Persons around the table.) What was your first impression?
As long as we can be real, be transparent and have fun around the table; things have a beautiful way of unfolding.
“Tell me your story?”
When we are at ease with people around us great life stories can be shared. The good the bad and the ugly.
We start to understand each other more and more and suddenly you see them as sisters and not as strangers any more.
As mentioned before: The small act of sharing a meal together has a great impact.
But be purposeful in your preparations and hosting!
Start making memories around your table. It will make you truly rich.
With love,
Nelleke van Heerden
