Christmas for many families can be a mixture of crazy and fun, mixed in with sadness and even a bit of anger and frustration. But how can this Christmas be different and how can The Table Talk Project help with that? Well, l am glad you asked.
Many typical family Christmas meal times consist of the meal and some cracker jokes thrown in that everyone cringes about and maybe some conversation with those that you may not have seen for a while.
I am being very generalistic but the conversations with people that I have had after their Christmas celebrations seem to be one of “yeah, it was good to see everyone, but it was just same same. Same conversation and same food”. My question is, could our Christmas time be different? Maybe not the food, but maybe we could do something with the Main (the conversation starters) and Dessert (the check-in).
What if Christmas was a time to have deeper conversation with people at the table? What if people walked away feeling listened to and heard? What if people looked forward to next Christmas because of this Christmas?
How might it work?
When you sit down with everyone at the table let everyone know that this year you want to have deeper conversation rather than just general chit chat. Then ask this conversation starter for the Main:
What is one thing that happened this year that you will never forget?
Make sure to:
-
- Give people the space to speak
- Listen attentively
- Paraphrase if you need to
- Enjoy the conversation
- Don’t make it mandatory
This conversation starter could go anywhere depending on what year people have had.
When you are closing, make sure that for Dessert you ask each person:
-
- Did you feel listened to and heard?
- What attitude are you leaving the table with?
- Is there anything else you wish you shared?
Why not try this out this Christmas and let us know your experiences on the Facebook group.