A modest gathering can hold a great deal of affection when nobody is busy proving abundance.

Displays of plenty take up room the people were meant to occupy. When an evening is built to demonstrate generosity, the host spends it working and the guests spend it admiring, and the actual exchange between people gets squeezed into the gaps. Warmth and expense are unrelated. What people are looking for is somewhere unguarded to sit and talk.

Host something deliberately small this month: one pot of soup, bread, whoever can come. Tell people plainly that it is nothing special so nobody arrives expecting a production.