The art of gathering.

If you happen to be one of the diehards who noticed that I didn't send a letter last week, first of all thank you.

Also, I had 22 people and 3 dogs in my house from Wednesday-Sunday morning, a child with a double ear infection, and a self-diagnosed case of walking pneumonia… so my head was elsewhere.

I am trying to find my footing back into the week, but a surprise new treat of something that includes fever and nausea is now visiting as well, so yay. I'm really hopeful to get back to a place where I am enjoying coffee and thinking deeply again by next week.

In the wake of hosting our first Thanksgiving, I keep thinking about how non-overwhelmed I actually felt about it all.

First of all, my turkey was delicious thanks to this recipe, but also thanks to my mom who housed it in her fridge, brought it to me in a cooler the week before, and talked me through babysitting it's thawing status. Also, awards to my mother-in-law and brother-in-law who drained and scooped out the guts because that's where I draw the line.

But really, the week was so doable because my in-laws are so chill, nonjudgemental, and open-hearted people.

By Saturday, when Matt and I were both starting to crash a little, I noticed how everyone was just making themselves at home. Pizza and wings appeared on my counter for dinner. Teenagers made the basement their personal frat house with bags of chips and video games galore. There were various board games and card games and movies cropping up through out the house, someone spontaneously napping on a couch, grown ups passing the baby around.

We had real conversations and I laughed so hard my stomach hurt over a game of Apples to Apples with my nieces and nephews.

There was no real game-plan for the week outside of the oven math of Thanksgiving day - but even that was so nice to just tinker around cooking and chatting all day amongst each other.

Growing up, the neighborhood came to our house.

My mom was (still is) a teacher, so especially in the summers, our entryway was covered with shoes of the kids who rode their bikes over to play.

I asked her once why that was and she said rather matter-of-factly - because I was there and I had an endless supply of ice pops.

I like the idea of being one who gathers.

This year, I sortof spontaneously became that - not out of my immense popularity or extrovert-ed-ness, but simply because no one else was doing it.

I hosted an bonfire and bookswap, a back-to-school wine night, pumpkin painting at the park...

I just believe there are too many reasons to be lonely and not enough reasons to get together.

Maybe most of us care a lot less about how fancy or cool a gathering is, and more about just doing it in the first place.

Gathering - without pretense, without overthinking it, without even checking pinterest once.

Just be there.

Have good food and drinks.

Open the door.

It sounds so simple. I think I'll try it more.

If you want to gather in 2026, make sure you're on this list of locals where I'm dreaming up chill events all year long that are mostly about getting to know people and adding a little laughter into our collective lives.

A hike, a flower or wreath workshop, watercolor paining, Galentines day, book club, ice cream social… I promise it will not be fancy and it will be fun.

(do you have a talent or a space you could share? hit reply and let me know so we can brainstorm!)

*all photos taken with my trusty point-and-shoot, which makes documenting family time feel so much less formal and a lot of fun.

// new + noteworthy //

Local gifts // Shenanigans is Santa for my kids stockings this year, including this game we love but misplaced, and this cutie little keychain for our pre-teen, these bath crayons for our little artist + transformer blind boxes that he'll flip over, and this putty + dino eggs for our dino loving toddler.

A PODCAST (RE-LISTEN) // This episode is from last year, but worth repeating for your end-of-season wrap-up and business forcasting. It's one of my most-listened episodes and is super tactical. | My 3 part process for holding an end-of-the-year meeting with myself- reflection goal-setting, metrics and more.

My recipe // My kids both agree that making reindeer cookies is a December favorite tradition, and I remember it just as fondly from my own childhood. (we just use regular pretzels for the antlers!)

A laugh // So dumb and great it hurts. Also this one.

CREATIVITY | FAMILY | SIMPLE JOYS

On instagram @leahoconnell.photo