My inner elf has to play...

My sister-in-law posted this list of Christmas-related questions on her blog.

If you know me well (my favorite song right now is "Everybody Loves Christmas" by Eddie Money- you know, from the end of The Santa Clause 2 when Mrs. Claus dances???), then you know my inner elf said...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper. Hands-down. Who wants to pull a gift out of a bag???

2. Real tree or artificial? Real. You should be ashamed of yourself for putting up a fake one.

3. When do you put up the tree? The Saturday after Thanksgiving.

4. When do you take the tree down? Usually a day or two after Christmas. When it's over, it's over. No since in making yourself depressed just looking at.

5. Do you like eggnog? Ugh.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I specifically remember the year we wanted an Atari, and we were not expecting one. Then on Christmas morning, E.T. was on the TV screen...it took us all of about 10 seconds to figure it out!!! We were so excited- and we even had to take turns with mom, who loved Asteroids.

7. Have a nativity scene? Yes.

8. Hardest person to buy for? People who either have everything or have more money than me, so anything they want they could have already bought for themselves and I can't afford.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Kids. They always want SOMEthing.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I honestly can't think of anything too awful. I have received tons of *trinkets* from students- mugs, candy, mugs, ornaments, mugs, candy, lotion, ornaments. But that isn't *bad* because they are so sweet and so excited when they give it to you.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Real photo card. Link to the blog for the *letter*. (Since I did cut down a real tree, I figured I'd do my part and save some paper).

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Yikes. Well- I have to choose two. "A Year Without a Santa Claus" because I LOVELOVELOVE Heat Miser's and Snow Miser's songs! (Larry and I almost went as them to a Halloween party one year.) And "Charlie Brown's Christmas". It says Christmas all over it- a classic. I know just about all the words because I watch it several times each Christmas.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The day after Thanksgiving. Yes, I'm out there with all those crazy people!

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I remember.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Sweet treats we only make at Christmas...mainly Angie's Peanut Butter Balls!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Once again I have two (all good elves can't like just one). Everybody Loves Christmas by Eddie Money; and I also like the Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Pachelbel Canon. It would be beautiful for a Christmas wedding.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Stay home.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dumb question.

20. Angel on top of the tree or star? An angel. It was hand-tatted by a very old lady at a church I went to years ago. I won it in the gift exchange. It was the present I opened, and then I got to choose to "steal" ANYone's gift and trade. But I kept mine- I loved it! They thought I was being nice, but I really loved it!

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Because we have a ton of family and I am a Christmas elf, we start around the 21st/22nd, ending with our family of five on Christmas morning. It's nice for the kiddos to have it spread out a bit.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? How they repeat the SAME Christmas songs over and over on the radio (they never play my favorites). And the traffic near major shopping areas.

23. What I love most about Christmas? The decorations, the shopping, the food, the gift-giving, the hanging-out with family, the time off from school, the music, the sights and smells, the everybody's having fun stuff!

Day Ten....

Day Ten was Thursday- they laid the vinyl flooring. It's kinda of weird because it *floats* and for now it's got bubbles that are supposed to work themselves out. Or they'll fix it. (You bet they will).

Day Eleven will be tomorrow- they took today off so the floor would settle and the countertops would be ready.

I'll post photos soon!

Days Eight and Nine...

...were visually uneventful.

They finished up the electrical work; put up the crown molding; adjusted cabinet doors; and put in the under-cabinet lights.

No photos- sorry. Hopefully countertops and appliances soon!

Salley Family Christmas Letter, 2007

Yes, I decided to do a "blog" letter this year. I'm going green.

Here are the *highlights* of our year...

*Larry is in his 9th year of teaching 7th grade at PG, and he's still busy as ever with his XC/track coaching.

*I am teaching full-time again this fall, also at PG- first grade. It's been an adjustment for our family, but I love my students and colleagues and especially love being with my family.

*David is in 8th grade at PG. He tried JV football this fall instead of XC and decided that was not his sport. He is currently playing shooting/point guard on the bball team; will be starring as Daddy Warbucks in the middle school musical "Annie"; and is the middle school student council president! We're pretty proud of how he handles it all. David was also baptized at Winterfest in February.

*Jacob is in 5th grade at PG. He's still playing guitar and some occassional bball, and creates all sorts of things with Legos. He's our outdoorsman, fishing and starting some hunting with my dad (Opa). He also has a fish tank he maintains and is doing VERY well this year in school. 5th grade has been a good transition for him. He was also baptized this year in January.

*Mary Elizabeth is in 3rd grade at PG. She is involved in Girl Scouts and enjoys the typical *girly-girl* things like cheerleading, American Girl dolls, arts and crafts, and clothes! She is still extremely petite and is sensitive to the fact that she's not much bigger than most kindergartners. She's lost her two front teeth, though, and when she speaks to you, you realize she's much older than she looks!

This year...

*...we have been to Rome, Italy. Larry and I chaperoned a two week trip for 18 PG HS students. It was AWEsome. Check out my photos.

*...we have redone our kitchen, a perk of going back to work. We had no stove, no dw.

*...I joined a gym. Best thing I've probably done for my health, physically and mentally.

*...we went to church camp this summer for a week, where Larry and I were educational directors for the first time. We love camp.

I'm sure there are many other that happened this year, but I think most of the *important* thoughts are already posted on my blog- so feel free to "look around".

It's been a good year. It's kinda funny how at the end of a year you're in a place that you really never expected or envisioned. It's even better. God is so good.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Better late than never...

Day Seven...

It's been officially a week, and today we seem to have all the cabinets in! YAH!

And if you look closely around the door and window, you can see that they've started painting- I love the color, a nice warm, light, natural taupe.

It's looking like we'll be done by Christmas!

BTW- if you *click* on a photo, it will enlarge for you!

Merry Christmas!

TOO FUNNY!

Go see what I did.

BTW- it's David (as a nerd), Jacob, Mary E, and Jonah!