What Does 'Home' Mean?

I shared my house with you on Monday and I'm planning / brainstorming / scheming about what I want to do to make our house our home. I started thinking about what 'home' in the past has been for me. Two apartments, two houses (this is the third house I've lived in) and one dorm room (for an extremely brief time.)

One of those houses is what I call the-house-I-grew-up-in. I lived there for thirteen years and I don't remember much of the apartment we lived in before that, and I only lived with my parents for two years after we moved. (Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it on this computer to share with you.)

When I think of home, I think of people first. My husband, and then my parents and sisters. But besides people, what about the physical house / apartment / condo makes it feel like home.

The house I grew up in was on the smaller side for the amount of people (+ one large dog) we had living in it. I had my own room (most of the time) and my sisters shared. I loved my room. It was my place were I could hide away. I always wanted to put an armchair in there but there was not enough space so when I was thirteen I set up a collapsible camping chair in corner by the window where I would read Harry Potter. This was home.

When I was in love with a new song I would play it on full blast and dance around the kitchen with my little sister. This was home.

At Christmas time, my mom put Christmas lights everywhere, on top of kitchen cabinets, on the piano, over the window frame. I'd sit in the living room and listen to Christmas music with only the glow of these lights. This was home.

The main living space was always filled with sunlight from a big glass door and lots of windows. I loved how bright and cheerful it always was This was home.

All of these memories are elements of home that I can bring into my new house. A nook to read, good speakers to play music and dance, lots of holiday decorating and soaking in the sunlight.

I am very blessed to have such a great place to call home growing up. I love my current house, I want to turn it into an equally great place to call home now.