MIDWINTER SUPPER 2024

The Invitation

Fellow Wonder Clubber Kate Bennis recently relayed an experience she had after the passing of her mother. While rummaging through old boxes of stored belongings, she stumbled across a carboard scrap on which her mother had written, “ANNOUNCE WHAT YOU WANT.” There was no explanation. The words simply stood there. Daring and expectant.

If winter has a theme, perhaps this is it. The darker hours and colder days invite us to retreat, to fold in on ourselves and feel into what surrounds us. Even the cicadas cease their song. 

It is a crucial time, a reminder that all of life is an inevitable and repeating march through darkness, back toward the light. That a new year dawns in the midst of this season, on the waning side of the winter solstice, is no coincidence. This re-beginning beckons us to pause along the path and carefully choose the direction we will face.

The invitation for our Midwinter Feast is this: to leave behind the darkness of the year past, that which no longer serves and no longer need accompany, and step toward the light ahead. To choose. To announce (if even in whisper) what it is that you want. These layers of surrender allow us to more fully live within the truth of who we are. To be awake, with wonder and awe, to our own lives. We hope you will join us on this winter night as we capture a bit of magic together.

The Experience

Our dinner contemplation revolved around the seasonal voyage through darkness and back to light. After a delicious dinner by chef Brad Schwing, we ventured into the winter night to walk a candlelit labyrinth in the backyard of the James Monroe House. The sky was studded with stars.

We sipped hot tea and wrapped ourselves in blankets and declared to the universe where we desired our journeys- collectively and individually- to take us in the upcoming year. It was a beautiful night!