Holiday Brunch
Practice
Choose a date in December, earlier in the month before neighbors’ travel.
Ask neighbors to bring a sweet or savory food to share.
Create a simple map for neighbors to update contact information.
Wear name tags. Gift tags are creative name tags.
“A brunch without mimosas is just a sad breakfast.”
It was a bright and chilly Sunday morning in December when my daughter and I waited silently with coffee and mimosas ready on the kitchen counter. We were uncertain if anyone would walk through our door for the first Holly Street Holiday Brunch.
We had invited our neighbors from 40 houses, 20 on each side of South Holly Street. And then, for a month, we waited and wondered. Would people who live next door or down the street be up for walking into our home? When we walked door to door to pass out invitations, I asked Kenna if we just wanted to invite the neighbors we knew, or should we invite everyone. She said with the insight of six-year-old innocence, “I think we should invite everyone. If Jesus was having a party, He would invite everyone.” So, we did. We invited everyone on the block, even those who were a bit thorny when they answered the door, seemingly bothered at being invited to brunch.
The holidays are often seen as a season of hospitality, but for those new to a neighborhood, or neighbors without friends or family nearby, being included is more meaningful. The holiday calendar may feel full for some, for others it can be a month of feeling isolated without any invitations. Hosting neighbors who live alone or without a bustling social calendar is a tangible way to offer belonging in this season. For those who are experiencing loneliness, being invited into a new holiday tradition can cultivate an important sense of connection in the neighborhood.
After hosting our holiday brunch for the last 7 years, old neighbors now await the invitation, and new neighbors hear about the brunch long before we knock on their door. People move onto the block, meet us, and say, “Are you the house who hosts the Christmas brunch?” It has become a little holiday tradition for 40 homes on Holly Street to share a Sunday morning brunch in our home.
One year we asked, “What decade did you move on to the block?” and discovered we have neighbors who moved into the neighborhood every decade from the 1960’s to the 2020’s. We ask, “Why did you move onto Holly Street?” and learn a little of where people have come from and sometimes what they hope for. The first year of our holiday brunch, two neighbors who had lived on South Holly Street for almost 30 years met for the first time in our home.
Each year we share stories about who is new to the street and who has moved on. The two neighbors who met for the first time at our holiday brunch have since died. Their homes are now inhabited by someone new. We will soon invite them to the Holly Street Holiday Brunch. And, we will wait silently and hope they will walk through our door on a Sunday morning in December.
