Why don't you....

This time of the year brings us back to stay put at home and invite some friends over in the dark evenings.

So, why don't you...

- invite a couple of friends for playing society games: Good old charades are almost lost to human memory and even a session of very competitive Monopoly opens up new horizons and traits of character. Provide some good wine, enough water and a huge tablett full of sandwiches ( not for nothing the Earl of Sandwich invented the stuff while gambling away and not having time to get up for dinner), or hotdogs, or Brezen with butter - something easy and simple to eat out of your hands, just with a papernapin around. Place all of it on a small table and let people help themselves.

- start to do a huge 1000 piece puzzle on your dining table. Just leave it there and every time one of you and your family passes by, there is the temptation of having a look and finding the right piece. Work in progress.

- dress your house or flat up for winter. You can change the covers for your sofa to a more cosy texture with some throws and cushions on top, hanging those thicker curtains to help keep out the cold, think about getting an artificial fire going in a corner of the room and use a lovely warm scented candle in the evening to make the house smell good of joys to come.

- put your flowers in a context of winter - with bare pieces of wood, found in the woods when on a walk, or with the flowers which are right now in season - no tulips now, please!!

- revive the wonderful tradition of making a "Jour Fixe" - almost lost tradition of keeping  an open house for friends and aquaintances on a certain day in the month - let's say every last saturday of the month from 16.00 - 20.00 during the winter months. People need no special inviation but get in september an ivitation with the dates until end of  february and can come if they like. Your job is to be at home, have enough tea, water and white wine at hand, some sandwiches and huge bowls of nuts, olives and what ever comes to your mind. And then relax and look forward to your visitors, may it be many or just a few. If you have a cosy home, people will love to come and look forward to those evenings once a month. And if they bring a new face, even better!