Welcome to Gathering: What This Category Really Means

Welcome to Gathering: What This Category Really Means

I’m thrilled that you’ve found my little corner of the internet! This home on the web is where I share about my love of homemaking. When I started writing about homemaking, I was a single woman who lived in various non-traditional households both solo and shared with roommates, housemates, even flatmates. Now, I live in a multi-generational household, taking care of my elderly mother. Most recently, I’ve been blessed to have met a man who will become my husband very soon and we are embarking on a new chapter of a non-traditional household of a different kind!

Throughout each phase and living situation, I’ve learned a common theme: homemaking is for any woman with a heart of making a home for herself and the ones she loves. 

And for the woman who finds herself living in a non-traditional household, such as solo, shared with roommates or in a multi-generational setting and caring for aging parents, being a homemaker is just as valid and worthy as those women who are blessed with a husband and children to raise. It just looks a little different!

I’ve broken homemaking down into six separate categories and this introduction series will give you an idea of what to expect to read and learn in each one. I’ve also linked the core post for each category so you can easily read about the philosophy behind each from a deeper perspective.

Each category represents a piece of what I believe goes into making a home truly yours. The names themselves are ones I created because they felt like me and how I like to approach each area. Still, a name only tells you so much. I believe it's worth defining terms plainly so there's no guessing at what each title means here.

So, let’s get into Gathering! It might not mean quite what you’d expect.

What Gathering Means Here

Gathering is about inviting others into your home and creating a warm, welcoming environment where they feel seen, heard and nourished. That most often looks like the practice of hospitality, but can also look like entertaining or hosting. It could be for a crowd, a smaller group or just one friend who needs a quiet, comfortable spot, a cup of tea and a sympathetic ear for an afternoon.

Gathering is also about how you treat your home as your own sanctuary. Approaching gathering as an introvert, I’ve found that sometimes what I need the most is simply a gathering of one. Quiet, solitude and thoughtful pursuits, not company, are what actually recharge me. That belongs in this category too and I'll be sharing ways to build it into your own home.

Gathering might look like:

• Hosting a small group, or just one person, with warmth rather than production
• Setting up a corner of your home that's just for you to recharge in
• Treating an ordinary evening alone as its own kind of gathering, worthy of tending to

A Broader Definition Than You'd Expect

The dictionary defines gathering simply, as an assembly or meeting, especially a social or festive one, or one held for a specific purpose.

The phrase “a specific purpose” is doing a lot of work in that definition. It's also the part I find to be the most useful. That purpose could be a milestone, special or it could be entirely mundane. It could be healing, rejuvenating, restful, celebratory, productive or indulgent. It could just as easily be your regular, ordinary day.

Whether you live alone, share your home with roommates, family or elderly parents, or a spouse, the idea of gathering reaches into every corner of home life. Not just those occasions that make it onto a calendar.

Five Threads That Run Through Gathering Here

Not every gathering will look the same. In fact, each one will look and feel a little different. But there are a few threads that hold true across all of them:

• Hosting others doesn't require a big home, a big group or a big effort. The Recommended Reading provides more inspiration for how that plays out in practice
• Solitude counts as gathering, too, when it's intentional rather than just leftover time
• The purpose matters more than the occasion. Nourishment, rest and celebration are all valid reasons to gather
• Hospitality is not the same as entertaining
• Placing your guests’ needs first can take many forms, none of which require a performance

Where to Begin

Not sure where to start? Try here:

• Pick one gathering this week, it could be with others or just yourself, and name its purpose, even if it's a small one
• Set up one quiet spot in your home for a gathering of one, even if it's just a chair with warm lighting
• Read the full singlenesting framework and philosophy on hospitality and what this category is built on in this post 

It’s such a natural desire to want to welcome people to our homes. For the connection, the companionship, the nourishment of souls and bodies. And when you’re not inclined to be an over the top hostess, learning how to practice the subtle, meaningful ways of hospitality is just as valuable as extravagant hosting. Opportunities for emotional intimacy and deep connection are often borne from smaller gatherings. 

A Note on Doing This Slowly

One last thought and it's the one I keep returning to: my original definition for this category was fostering an atmosphere of intention, relationship and sanctuary. That still rings true.

Your home doesn't need to host constantly, or host elaborately, to be a gathering place. It simply needs to:

• Make room for the people you love, even in small doses
• Make room for you, in the quiet in between
• Hold both as equally valid and valuable