Learning to be Gracious

James and I had the pleasure of hosting an engagement/housewarming party for our family and friends here in Williamsburg last night.  It was a GREAT party!  Over 25 of our family and friends celebrated with us.  We ate and drank the night away (until almost 3am!).  The only thing that would have been better is if my family and friends from WI could have been here too.  One thing I realized though, is that I need to learn to just be gracious.  I didn't expect people to bring gifts, although some did.  Instead of just saying thank you and accepting them, I kept saying "you didn't have to bring anything" or "I should have put no gifts on the invite".  Talking with James today, I worried that people felt obligated to bring something.  He didn't see it that way.  He said that our friends and family love us and are happy for us - that's why they gave us gifts.  He is 100% right.  [...did I really just put that in writing?!  I suppose it was bound to happen sometime ;-) ]


Another example of this came last night when someone complimented the food I had prepared saying he was impressed that I had really spent some time and put a lot together.  Instead of just saying "thanks, I hope you enjoy!", I almost argued saying it wasn't much trouble at all and of course I had food, it was a party.  Why is it hard to just accept people's thoughtfulness, appreciation, and compliments?  Thinking about it, I do this quite often.  I minimize the time and effort I put into things.  When people notice, I say it's no big deal.  I need to stop that and re-focus.  I need to accept people's appreciation and compliments.  Not doing so is not only minimizing the value of my time and effort, but minimizing their attention, thoughts, and time to say something nice.  It's ok to take time and accept compliments when they are given.  Especially with this year of wedding planning and then the actual day, we will be putting a lot of time and effort in and people will notice (I hope!); we will be the center of attention and I need to learn to enjoy it instead of down play it.  With the busyness and negativity in the world, it really is a special thing to have so many lovely, considerate, and appreciative people in our lives.  And it's ok to realize that I am that type of person to my family and friends too.