How well do you cope with visitors at home? Do you stress out a bit (or a lot) over preparations?

This is what I was thinking about this morning, before driving to the airport to pick up my sister Cristina and my nephews Pablo and Andrés (welcome guys!). I used to get suuuuper stressed out when someone was coming to visit us at home, and then, as years went by, I was able to relax a little bit, thankfully!

(Photo of an arts and crafts heart Eva made in school a couple of years ago, permanently displayed on the kitchen´s whiteboard)

I think part of the problem, at least in my case, was the belief that my house had to be perfectly clean and tidy for me to be able to properly receive visitors. Now I realise that this was a reflection, on the one hand, of certain habits from my family in particular, and on the other hand, of the societal norms that ruled generations prior to ours.

In the old days, many houses had a room specifically dedicated to visitors (a place where children were generally not allowed to enter, just in case they dirtied or broke anything), and "the good tableware" was used to serve tea, coffee, and/or refreshments. It was unthinkable to have visitors venturing as far as the kitchen, or the family rooms... Unless the hostess decided to show them the whole house, as my mother did every now and then (ah, the memories, getting into panic mode and rushing to tidy up our bedroom in record time so that it could be shown to whoever was visiting).

Thankfully, nowadays things have changed. Houses have more open layouts; a lot of daily life happens in the kitchen, and social relationships tend to be much less formal. Or maybe it´s just me: years ago, I decided I didn´t want any "visitors" in my house, or rather, I didn´t want anybody coming to see us to feel like they were a visitor (defining visitors in the old way, as in "stay in your designated area"). The meeting point in our current house is definitely the kitchen, which is a simple space, nothing luxurious, but very cosy and welcoming, and I no longer feel (so) bad about the house not being perfect, although I, of course, like to keep it reasonably clean and tidy.

At the end of the day, what really matters is us being able to get together and have a good time. And I have learned that being more flexible and simplifying certain things allows me to enjoy the moment a lot more, and of course, to enjoy the company.

What´s your take on this? Are you in favour of entertaining visitors, or would you rather have "non-visitors"?