Something you should know about Austria

If you are in Salzburg around Christmas time, and you hear bells jingling and see antlers from just above the crowd -- don't assume that Santa is coming with his reindeer. It could also be terrifying troll demons coming to say hello to the children.

We're still not exactly sure what was going on, but we were there on Winter Soltice, and our waitress later that night told us that it is tradition for these 'characters' to come and scare away the bad ghosts of the year past for the children. If you are a good child you have nothing to be scared of and you are happy to see these guys. If you are a bad child, they will beat you.

Either way I did not want one of these guys anywhere near me!

Best Christmas present ever

For Christmas Mum and Dad sent the four of us to the Christmas Market in Salzburg. (It was VERY cold, and all clothing decisions should be viewed in that light!)

We got pretty ornaments at the Christmas markets.

Listened to triangle guitars (that's the technical term).
Hiked up to the mountain to tour the castle.

Walked down tiny cobble stone streets next to buildings built into the mountain.
And ate....and ate....and ate

Then it got dark and we did it all again!

HELP!!

We have rotten wood siding that needs to be replaced. Once that is taken care of our house will need to be repainted -- which means we need to pick a color. We'd like to improve on the current color scheme (the trim is too yellow and the green is too blue - its complicated). BUT, picking paint colors is not something we've excelled at in the past. I could continue with the hyperlinks, but you get the idea.

Here's some options from other houses in our neighborhood -- please please let us know what you think!

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this is how much snow it takes to get school cancelled in houston