First of all, congratulations on surviving your party! It certainly sounds like a lot of work & stress. I can’t imagine preparing all that food without eating or drinking!

Second, it’s striking how the unspoken rules of hospitality vary so much from one place to another. Even in the United States there’s huge regional variation. My wife is from the South, I spent some time there with here and at times I was totally mystified. As someone who moved from New York City to North Carolina put it: “In New York, if I ask someone what time it is, they’ll say ‘Hey, do I look like a f***ing clock?.’ In North Carolina they say ‘Oh, let me give you my watch, and please, come on in and have a bite to eat.'” (And of course – you don’t take the watch, and protest you just ate and you’re not hungry!)

I’m sorry i haven’t had time to participate in #digciz, seems like a fascinating dialog; and as I’m sure others have observed already, you could have tagged it just #ciz instead based on what I’ve seen so far.