Inspire, Fall/Winter 2009

10 FALL/WINTER 2009 I love my job, and I love Christmas. Not surprisingly then, my annual Christmas brunch for technical and professional communication (TPC) majors epitomizes my work at Cedarville. Holiday dishes, china teacups, glowing candles, and charming Christmas decorations fill my home, but my guests know what to look forward to most: blueberry caramel pecan French toast. And it really is as good as it sounds! Upperclassmen tell new students to mark their calendars for the first Saturday in December, saying, “You won’t want to miss Mrs. Harner’s Christmas brunch.” Over the years, the menu hasn’t changed. It’s always the French toast, sausage links, fresh fruit salad, orange juice, and my special home-roasted, freshly ground coffee. The event has become a highlight of the year, both for me and the students. But with all the preparation and delicious food, what I enjoy most is seeing students gathered around the tables, talking and sharing their lives with each other and with me. I’ve found that the student I see in my home differs from the one who sits in my classroom day after day. These young men and women beg for stories, wanting to hear about Cedarville when I was a student or how I met my husband or about my own children growing up — even asking for stories about my grandchildren. They usually stay until late in the afternoon playing games. When I shared on my Facebook page last December that I was getting ready for the annual Christmas brunch, several graduates of the TPC program posted comments suggesting I open it up to all A Merry Little Christmas by Sandi (Welch) Harner ’64 W “What I enjoy most is seeing students gathered around the tables, talking and sharing their lives with each other and with me.”