By Madoline Markham Koonce
To step into Anna and Tyler Nash’s Vestavia Hills home, you must first walk through a cozy carport-turned-outdoor living space that beckons you to stop and sit a while. No matter if you stop there or inside in their kitchen or living room, you’re sure to exhale as they offer you a drink and bring you a plate of homemade treats—even if you’ve simply arrived for an interview like I did.
Any time spent in the couple’s company speaks volumes to their generous hospitality, through their cooking and conversations, through the Airbnb in the basement of their home or through their experience owning and running Innova coffee shop for several years. So, it only makes sense that they are now sharing about hospitality through a coffee table-style book coming out in November fittingly entitled Refreshing Hospitality.
After closing Innova in 2023, Tyler and Anna had former customers reach out and ask for recipes for food and drinks they served, and the more they thought about it, the more they wanted to share not just recipes behind favorites like Conecuh Cheddar Biscuits and their soft, buttery Shortbread but also the stories that tie not just to recipes but their wider experience of hospitality in general.
“As we got into the stories and the recipes, it so closely matched what we do at home, and it so closely matched the reason we are able to do this is because we experience it out in the world,” Anna explains. “It turned into a lot of stories about where we have experienced people caring for us in unique and special ways through hospitality, from the finest of the fine to the most simple.”
The coffee table-style book features 60 short stories about the Nash’s experience with hospitality, and each is paired with a recipe, hospitality idea or how-to or reflective questions. The first section of the book focuses on vision casting for time around the table, the second focuses on time around the table itself and the third is about how to take a spirit of hospitality with you wherever you go through care packages, delivering meals and more.
We chatted with Tyler and Anna to learn more about the book and get their perspective on tips to prepare for being hospitable at the holidays this year.
What is important about hospitality to you?
Tyler: What people might think of when they hear hospitality is just the outworking of what starts internally. I want to connect with someone, and I want to provide a space for them. We want them to come in and make our home their space, to take a deep breath and relax.
Anna: The motivation is not inward or focused on performing or perfection but it’s outward—refreshing others and making them feel renewed when we are with them by serving them and caring for them.
What are you most excited for readers to glean from the book?
Anna: I really hope that after reading the book or parts of it, that people will take one small step to open up community, conversations and dialogue. Innova opened up our minds to so many other worlds and beliefs, beautiful people and rich conversations blowing our perspective wide open in the best kind of way. I also hope people will take one small step to connect with people that they might not normally connect with.
Tyler: The way Anna writes is very welcoming and engaging. I think there’s going to be enjoyment in reading stories versus just dos and don’ts. I hope they discover that it doesn’t have to be a huge burden to have people over.
What ways do you recommend being hospitable around the holidays?
Anna: One thing is to encourage not a formal open house but people dropping by during the holidays if someone is coming to deliver a present or to Christmas carol. There’s a number of things in the book about how to be ready. We keep Conecuh Cheddar Biscuits and Shortbreads that we made at Innova frozen, and we pull them out as needed. Having a closet we call the party closet makes setup seamless. The book has ideas of things to have in the pantry that have a long shelf life. The stash enables you to be spontaneous during the holidays with ease.
Tyler: Perspective going into the holidays is important. The build up can be so much that there’s no way it can meet expectations. There will be disappointment if the whole thing is about everything being perfect. It helps to set your own internal perspective: This is about people who are here, not about the event.
What ways do you suggest making the holidays more meaningful?
Anna: We can’t talk about the meaning of the holidays without talking about traditions. To me personally, our most meaningful moments as a family are the traditions that the kids and now the grandchildren get excited about. It makes you feel like you are part of a club. I think traditions are pretty personal, and we do a lot of ours because we heard about them from someone else.
For one of our traditions when the kids were growing up, Tyler would go by the bank and get a crisp $100 bill. On Christmas Eve, we would go out to eat and would enjoy our meal knowing our server was going to get a $100 bill for their Christmas Eve tip because they were sacrificially giving up time with their families. For a number of years, the servers came back to us and said they were having a hard time or that it was really a message of hope to them. It’s been a sweet tradition.
Tyler: We now have children and grandchildren, and one thing I like thinking about is how we can take some stress away from the parents, helping them with some things or creating moments with the adults after the kids go down.
To learn more about Refreshing Hospitality, order a copy or learn about book events, visit refreshinghospitality.com. The book will also be available at local bookstores after it releases in November.
