| From the president |
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Dear Friends,
Home-the holiday season always finds me dreaming of home. For me home will always be the small, white frame house with the apple trees, lilacs, spruce trees and overflowing fruit and vegetable garden in Owatonna, Minnesota. When I think of home I can still see every detail of my old room with its well worn dolls, books and stuffed animals, or I imagine my Mom bustling about the kitchen baking, chopping, stirring, and cleaning up. Or maybe I see my Dad out in the backyard picking raspberries in the summer or cleaning the snow off the birdfeeders in the winter. All simple memories of love and work and joy-sharing our lives together. Some of my fondest memories of home aren't just about growing up there, but what it meant to come home when I had been away. I remember driving home after college for weekend visits, eagerly anticipating the swing of the back door with my dad's smiling shout of "welcome home!" I knew there would be stories to share; delicious dinners where we would linger around the table; and games-ping pong or scrabble-tennis or golf; or time to just be with each other. If I was lucky, I would wake up on a Saturday morning to the aroma of my Mom's cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. Now home for me is the holiday homecoming of my own daughters to our house in St. Paul where we will all gather to share the stories of our lives and spend time just being together. We will chop and stir and cook the food for our holiday meals. We will laugh and tease and play games. And, we will bake the same Christmas morning coffeecake that my mother and my grandmother baked and we will know that home is a place in our hearts. Whether home for you is a place long ago and far away or whether it is the homecoming you will make for your family this year, I know that home is a place in your heart too. Please give generously to Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity this holiday season to help more families build the comfort, love, and memories of home. We are so grateful that you choose to share what you have with Habitat for Humanity. Blessings to you this holiday season, Sue Haigh |
