Hosting a “Welcome Home Dinner” is a return to the simple practice of sharing stories and images of meaningful moments with others. 

The mediums of visual storytelling have sharply shifted over the last few decades. As a child, I recall any visit to my grandparents in Texas would include my grandfather setting up his slide projector, and click by click, washed-out images of their latest travels would appear on the screen. As I began working with students in churches in the early 1990’s, no summer camp or mission trip was complete without the end of the week video with a montage of pictures that captured the most memorable moments. Spontaneous laughter and applause would punctuate the photos of the highlight reel.

The invitation of Jesus to “love your neighbor” is misaligned if we hear that we should care for our neighbors, friends, family, or coworkers at the expense of caring for ourselves. This unhealthy approach can generate anxiety about our performance rather than abiding as the Beloved.

K.C. Ledgerwood is a Licensed Professional Counselor and has worked in community mental health and trauma-informed work since 2011. Her background in mental health, alongside her history in teaching fitness, provided the foundations of a personal practice she developed. The somatic practice was first shared with friends, then formed into classes she began teaching in 2021.

For much of the year, our mailboxes receive little beyond bulk mail circulations and unwanted financial applications. But each December, there is the possibility of the arrival of a Christmas card, a small artifact of attention to relational connection. In an increasingly digital reality, sending Christmas cards to friends, family, and neighbors is a countercultural practice of paper and pace.

My family and I joined Monroe Organic Farms’ CSA this past year. Each week, Monroe would drop off a handful of shares at a neighbor’s home, and everyone would come by to pick up their vegetables. Along with getting big bags of beautiful produce each week, I got to know the Monroe family more deeply, along with Mary Ann, my neighbor, who sat in her garage for two hours every week distributing the farm shares.

There is a high probability that on your commute to work, taking children to school, or going to the grocery, you pass a place dedicated to the safety of your neighborhood. It is the local fire station. Their very existence, tall doors rolled open and trucks parked neatly inside, offers a sense of stability in a community. A way to love your neighbors and neighborhood is to know not only the location, but the names of the men and women whose work is providing that sense of safety every day.

My mother, Marilyn Mackey, called her mother every Saturday morning for 30 years. “We would call to stay connected and know what was going on in each other's lives.” My mother reminds me, “That was when we paid for long-distance calls too.” But the practice of staying connected begins a generation before her. “My mother’s relationship with her mother, Grandma Miller, was that we saw them every weekend. We would go to their house on the farm and have a meal and play games.”

Giving flowers is a way to show kindness to your neighbors in your building or on your block, at a nearby retirement center, elementary school, or food bank. It is a practice of sharing beauty and spreading joy.

By walking hand in hand with the past, may we all journey forward together, writing new chapters into the richness of our shared history.

The practice of freudenfreude is a parallel practice to empathy. Empathy is feeling compassion about others pain. Freudenfreude is connecting and celebrating others joy.

Englewood Grand, selected by Westword as one of “The 100 Bars We Can’t Live Without”, began hosting “Thankful Thursdays”. The invitation was to write a note of encouragement. They would provide the stationery and postage, and serve a great cocktail.