Where It All Started

It all started around this table. Our love for community began right here...with our family, with friends who are family. Thanksgiving is by far our favorite holiday. It is the one day where we are actually told to stop and be grateful.

If you think about it, we have a lot to be thankful for. Often times in this crazy thing we call life we forget the power of a grateful heart...but every November we are reminded. Choose to be thankful. When we go through the process of listing what we are grateful for we realize how truly blessed we are. How loved we are. How inter-connected our lives really are with those around us. Personally, I am thankful for my Nashville community. For all the diverse, authentic lives that make us this beautiful tapestry of people I get to call family.

What better way for Around The Table to spend this last month than around the thanksgiving table. Here is a brief glimpse of what it is like around our thanksgiving table:

Join us Around The Table in 2017: More Details to Come!

A Magical Evening Around The Table

I fell in love with the world of Harry Potter when I was eleven. The very same age Harry was when he realized he was a wizard. Mesmerized by his Wizarding World, I followed Harry on his incredible journey. As chance would have it, the seventh and final novel was published the very same year I turned 17 (for you Muggles this is the age Harry is within the final novel). For all accounts and purposes, I, like so many others my age, literally grew up with Harry Potter.

I am a pretty ordinary person, yet on this subject matter I fully embrace my "geekdom". Many family members and friends ask me why I love Harry Potter so much. I've given many answers over the years yet the truth is simple: the wondrous imagining of J.K. Rowling is what first inspired me to become a writer. At the age of sixteen, I began the cathartic process of scribbling down a story under a pseudonym. I posted it online and was surprised to find that many actually enjoyed my musings, it was a very "unexpected guest" I assure you.

You see, it is these little gifts in life that build us into who we are. For me as a writer, as a creative artist, as a friend, as a woman who seeks to be of character, I trace many of these life-lessons to my late night re-readings of the boy-who-lived and loved. In a way I began to love my own story through loving his.

So-how else should we here at Around The Table spend a Halloween weekend then celebrating a favorite fictional world with our Friends? Around The Table gladly went to Hogwarts this month!

Platform 9 3/4:

Decorations filled every nook and cranny of our castle. There was a little magic everywhere! Friends were wowed the moment they arrived at Platform 9 3/4 (the front door). From potions classroom to our very own Owlery, House Points lined the mantle on the fireplace where Around The Table's very own Hogwarts letters arrived. 

Owl Post-Platform 9 3/4-Potions-Sorting Hat-Herbology-HP DIY Tattoos-Spell Books

Hogwarts Crest-House Points-Hogwarts Letters-HP Books-Magical Plant Display Case-Defense Games

Sorting Ceremony: 

Invited guests were sent their very own letters via Owl Post (to see our Hogwarts letter click here). Requirements included arrival at Platform 9 3/4, house robes/costume attire, as well as a virtual sorting ceremony. All houses were represented at Around The Table! Gryffindor (6) Ravenclaw (6) Hufflepuff (3) and Slytherin (1). Each place card was individualized to denote name of guest, Hogwarts House as well as the prided characteristics of each individual house. 

Place Setting: 

Gold goblets, chargers, and utensils. White linen napkins with wood rings accented by cat tails. Table Topics were displayed on the back of individualized Daily Prophets! Headlines ranged from all of Harry Potter's journey: Harry Saves Philosopher's Stone all the way to Dark Lord Defeated. 

Tablescape: 

This whimsical woodland tablescape was designed to incorporate the Great Hall and the natural magical world. Dried flowers, moss, and plants set the backdrop while framed photographs, potions, and real-life floating candles transported Friends to Hogwarts. 

The Burrow-Spellbooks-Quill-My Own DIY Wand

Drought of Living Death

Set and Ready!

Table Topics: 

Around The Table is different than a normal dinner party. Guests only bring themselves...although some do try and bring a bottle of wine now and again (southern roots still run deep it seems). We provide everything...including table topics. Questions which facilitate a single group conversation. So often when we go to parties we find ourselves huddled in a corner only talking to one or two people. More often than not there are three or four conversations going at a time. We are wired by culture to do. This is how we at Around The Table choose to be different. Each topic for discussion is thought-about, muddled-over, and chosen specifically for our Friends.

As we gathered around, chatted, and got to know one another something surprised me. Ironically, a pattern of behavior, personalities began to emerge. Patterns that were very well distinguished amongst each different Hogwarts House. Ravenclaws were curious, processors, witty, full of banter and puns. They tended to be quiet, yet when they spoke were very eloquent and well-spoken Hufflepuffs were funny and kind. They included others in the conversation and sought to look at the light side of magic. Our Slytherin House was very diplomatic, clever, not afraid to speak their mind as well as point out what they agreed or disagreed with. Gryffindor's dived into conversations, mostly speaking in personal-story format. Like Slytherin, they too were not afraid to speak up for what they believed in.

This month Table Topics included: 

1. Why do you think you were sorted into your respective house?
2. What was your favorite Halloween tradition growing up?
3. If not Harry Potter, then what book series did you enjoy reading when you were younger?
4. What career would you have in the Wizarding World?
5. Harry had great friends...what does it mean to be a good friend?
6. It feels like fall when...
7. Do you believe good will always triumph over evil?
8. What is your favorite Halloween costume you've ever worn?
9. Why do you think Harry Potter sacrificed himself?
10. What fictional universe would you want to live in?
11. What animal would you want to be your Patronus?
12. Harry spent 11 years isolated and then 7 years at Hogwarts learning about friendship, family, and community. What has life taught you about real community?

Fanciful Feast:

Our Friends got to enjoy a complete feast! Appetizers from Hogsmeade included fresh walnut and cranberry bread loaf, British cheese display, as well as savory meatballs. Anything of the trolly too! Golden Snitches, Chocolate Frogs, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans (yes they mean every flavor!). Libations ranged from ButterBeer to seasonal beers, Exploding Lemonade, Madam Rosmerta's Sparking Spiced Cider, as well as fresh homemade pumpkin juice. 

Dinner menu included fresh ham, full chickens, soft rolls, grapes, apples, Shepard's pies, roasted potatoes, savory bean medley, and hot corn on the cob! If that wasn't enough dessert was topped off with Pumpkin Pie and Dutch Apple Crisp!

Liquid Luck Send Off: 

What's a Harry Potter party without a bit of potions? As the night concluded, Friends got to take home a vial of their very own Felix Felicis, commonly known as "liquid luck". We hope our Friends choose to use it well!

Next Month: Around The Thanksgiving Table....

A Taste of Hogwarts

Let's be real--who doesn't love Harry Potter! We here at Around The Table sure do. So for this month's Around The Table, we've chosen to embark on a night full of magical Harry Potter-inspired adventures.

As our friends anxiously await their very own Hogwarts letter, we here at Around The Table are gearing up for another wonderful term. We solemnly swear we are up to no good come this Halloween. Friends, this is a night you don't want to miss!

Why do YOU gather?

The surgery sabbatical and summer for that matter is coming to a close. Schools are back in session, our photos from fabulous vacations are finally fully uploaded, and the crazy rhythm of life beats against us once more.

During Around The Table's sabbatical these last four months (has it been that long...jeez), we asked YOU our faithful friends what it means to gather around your table, to share a meal with others. Thank you to all those who shared your stories with us. While we can't post them all, we'd like to share a few of our favorite stories.

"Uninterrupted and no distractions are rarity these days. As humans, we were made for fellowship and community. Gathering around a table, breaking bread together, and joining in conversation is an age old tradition that should be cherished today. I truly believe that what happens around the table is what brings Life to our lives." -Morgan

"This modern century has given us many wonderful technological advances. However, despite the constant connections and friends we can now have at the touch of a button, rarely if ever do we find ourselves a part of a real community. Community. The evasive and sometimes argued utopic ideal that can never truly be found. I myself have often wandered the globe in search of it. It's funny, now looking back, the few times I've stumbled upon it have actually been with others, all of us gathered around a table sipping a drink and swapping stories." -Charlie

"Growing up, my family always ate dinner around the table. We would sit down, one of my parents would read from a daily devotional, and then we would eat. My parents separated when I was nine, though, and our family meals around a table pretty much stopped after that. Despite the fact that we spend all of our holidays together, we rarely sit down and feast around an actual table. Since going off to college, I've shared meals and made some of my closest friends while sitting at dining room tables. Some were essentially card tables in a dorm in London, others were custom-made to be as big as a dining room would allow. Being around a table requires patience, effort, and a willingness to sit and do nothing but engage with other humans while you stuff your face with food. It's one of the hard beauties--worth every bit of work that is required to make it possible." -Sarah

"As a born and bred southerner, the art of dining and hospitality is engrained within me. It's a heritage, a trust-fund so to speak that keeps on giving me joy. I absolutely love to host! There is something so special about gathering friends, new and old within your home. My husband and I get invited to parties all the time at venues but there is nothing like being within someone's home...it's just more personal." -Diana

"The youngest of four kids, my parents were more drivers than cooks. There was always a practice or an appointment to get to. Dinner at our house was never really a thing. I think maybe that's why Thanksgiving was and still is my favorite holiday. For one day at least there was no schedule to keep. My family, as crazy as we were, could at least sit down together and share a meal...well in between the games of course. Now with my kids, my husband and I try to slow down and have a meal at least once a week not once a year." -Robin

"Working in the event industry allows me the chance to see and experience some amazing and truly awe-inspiring parties. Despite the fabulous nights, nothing beats my pjs, a bottle of wine, and my best friends. For me gathering is not about the fancy events we see in the movies or read about in books. It's about taking the time to share time with those who make up your movie or your book." -Emily 

Thank you to all those who submitted a story, it was such a joy to read about how you gather around your table. As we leave summer gatherings behind, I know we all are ready for fall. Around The Table is wishing for falling leaves, brisk weather, scarves, boots, and darker tablescapes. Come October Around The Table is going for a fun and rather magical theme. Tune in soon because you don't want to miss this reveal...