People like to say that home is where the family is. This is absolutely true. However, after relocating three states away from my own family, I’ve come to a revised definition. Home is where the pretty hand towels are. It’s in the Jan Brett details that remind you of loved ones who are far away. Here is my list of details that turned my one bedroom apartment into a home. 

1. Hearts – My mom has dozens of these scattered throughout my childhood home. I tried to number them once but had to start over twice because I lost count in my search for each of my mom’s hidden hearts.
2. Nutcrackers – It’s the little touches of Christmas that make a place feel warm and cozy all year long. Even when the holiday decorations have been put away; the ornaments carefully tucked into bubble wrap sleeves and returned to their boxes, my nutcracker remains. He keeps a constant watch over my tiny living room, lighting my home with a painted lantern held aloft in his left hand. His snowy white hair and beard are welcome reminders of a time when jolly old saint Nick will visit again. 
3. Books – Specifically, the books that my dad read to my sister and I as kids. The Lord of the Rings was our favorite. I proudly display a tattered paperback set on my little shelf. It’s the same set that my sister took with her to Alaska one summer when she worked on a fishing boat. These books have been places and are the same copies I turn to when I need to go home. Even now, all grown up, the characters still speak to me through my dad’s voice.
4. Scrapbooks – Just like the living portraits at Hogwarts, I can see my friends and family shuffling into position in front of the camera before someone snapped the photos. All the people I love and all the ones I used to be wave and smile up at me from glossy pages. 
5. Twinkle Lights – I believe the official term is ‘fairy lights’ but in our house we always made sure to switch on the ‘twinkle lights’ that sparkled atop the old upright piano when the Sun dipped behind the mountains in the evenings.
6. Rocks – Over the years, my family has collected buckets of smoothed discs and pebbles from distant shores and mountain tops. It’s become a tradition to send each other small stones from our travels, wherever we might go. I love to tell people where all my rocks came from. They are pieces of home wrapped in good memories. 

What details do you cherish in your home? Share in the comments.