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A home can be made out of almost any type of shelter but a house is not automatically a home, no matter how lovely it may be. You only have to look at some of the impoverished people of the world, to see some of the strange buildings that families have had to use to make their homes. Although not ideal, with heat, love and a sense of safety the shelter can soon become a home.

Watching American Idol's charity show, 'Idol Gives Back', recently, I was appalled to see some of the terrible places that adults and children have to live and call home. There was, for example, three children who lived with their blind father in what can only be termed a hovel. The children all slept in a bare room on the floor on some sort of covering. Terrible as it was to see, this family however seemed to have that bond which made that awful shelter home.

At the opposite end of the spectrum there are many beautiful houses, resplendent in their furnishings, which could never be called home. They lack the warmth and feeling that a home needs. They are a beautiful building and that's about it. Sure, it will always be nicer to be making your home in great surroundings, with all of life's luxuries, but if you haven't got that extra something it will never be a home.

I know that when we moved house, a few years ago, we looked at lots of houses for sale and some just had that certain extra something. They had something undefinable which made them feel homely as soon as you entered. They just felt right and as if they would be a good place to live and make your own. Others, no matter how flash they were just failed to impress. The house we purchased just seemed to feel right as soon as we walked through the door, without either my Husband or myself knowing why.

It takes many things to make a home. Ideally a good, sound building as a starting point and the necessary furniture and equipment to fill it. However, over all it needs its occupants to love it, add personal touches, care for it and live a life there, in order for it to become a proper home. Otherwise it is just somewhere to reside.

Learn more about this author, Ethel Smith.
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