The year isn't over yet but even if  December 2009 is an above average month for home sales there will not be enough of them to make much of a change to the 2009 average home sale price data that I just got from our MLS.  Home prices have gone down these last two years and I am not sure when they will go up again.  They peaked in St. Paul in 2006.

There is some good news though.  If homes keep selling at their current pace the total number of home sales will be back up to what they were in 2005.  They took a nose dive in 2007, which is the same year prices started to edge downward. . . . or I should say drop like a rock.

The number of home sales tend to go up when homes become more affordable, and they have become more affordable.  I don't like to make predictions but I don't think we will see home values go down next year. I think they will remain fairly flat or maybe go up a bit from what they are they year.  

The data used to make this chart is from the Northstar MLS and is deemed reliable but not guaranteed.  The data is for residential real estate sold in the City of St. Paul from January 1, 2005 through November 29, 2009.

Horse carriage and driver waiting in front of the Alexander Ramsey house in St. Paul, MN.  On Saturdays they have tours so that people can experience what Christmas was like in 1875. It must have been hard back then. People had to shop in stores instead of on the internet and the Christmas trees were lit with candles instead of lights.

It has been a busy holiday with a house full of people.  All I have to offer today is this photo that I took last October. It was cold that night or we would have taken more. I was showing a Bloomington resident a great place to take photos and how to take them at night. Bloomington isn't far away but it is possible to live there and to never really see St. Paul.

It is Friday and Fridays are for fun.  The day after thanksgiving is apparently for shopping.  Shopping isn't something I like to do but I do enjoy watching the people lined up and shivering on the Friday morning news.  The Monday after thanksgiving is cyber Monday because that is the day when everyone goes back to work, goes on the internet and starts shopping. I don't do that either.

My idea of fun is not shopping. I do some Christmas shopping but I mostly do it on Monday mornings when everyone else is at work and I am pretty strategic about it.  My list is in my head and when I enter a store, I don't shop I go directly to what I want to buy, buy it and leave quickly. 

Probably more than you want to know. I would like to remind everyone to shop local whenever possible and support neighborhood businesses.  They are small businesses, they create jobs and are good for our neighborhoods.  This year has been hard on a lot of the local restaurants. If you are going to dine out during the holidays consider a neighborhood restaurant.  Many are offering discounts and specials during the beginning of the week when business is the slowest. 

While you are having fun shopping today I will be having just as much fun not shopping.

*The photo is of Cossetta's restaurant and market, on West 7th near downtown.

We all have something to be thankful for, even though for many it has been a tough year.  If you are reading this then you can be thankful that you are not blind and that you can read.

No time to write, need to cook.  We do this thing on thanksgiving where we all sit down and eat, pretty much the same every year no surprises.  We have turkey, and stuffing and pumpkin pie. There is more and wine and left overs too. It is a great day to turn off the computer and disconnect.

Have a great day, don't eat too much, we do that every day.

by G. Sax (@gsax)

Last weekend I did a bouncing thing at The Roy before the RollerGirls. I loved writing that sentence. Let's break it down.

Bouncing: If you don't know your 100-year history of the city, "bouncing" is a weirdo activity some of us do in Saint Paul at parades and other special events. It involves 14 guys holding onto the handles of a circular canvas blanket and pulling it taut while a smallish girl is sitting in the middle of it. Depending on the bounce, girls go 15, 20, 25, and even 30 feet straight into the air. People seem to like it.

You can learn more about bouncing at stpaulbouncingteam.org. We hold our tryouts each year in January as part of the annual Winter Carnival festivities. We'll be at the Landmark Center in a couple of months. We're looking for a few new good men and women to carry on this random but rich tradition. I'm the 2010 President of the team, so I have a special interest in attracting more people to the fold.

The Roy: Short for Roy Wilkins Auditorium, the venerable venue known for hosting various professional teams and concerts over the past 80 years. In fact, it's name is now officially prefaced with the word "Legendary." I may not have been there for Minneapolis Lakers and University of Minnesota hockey games, but I've seen The Replacements and Cypress Hill there, and that's legendary enough in my book of tricks.

The Roy is located downtown, wedged between The Ordway and The X, which are really called The Ordway Center of Performing Arts and The Xcel Energy Center (where the Minnesota Wild NHL team plays), but we like to shorten things in Minnesota when we can, especially in winter when words are often swept away in freezing winds and muffled in scarfery.

Coolest of all, The Roy is named for the man Roy Wilkins, a titan of American history, a civil rights activist of great merit, and long-time Executive Director of the NAACP.

The RollerGirls: The Minnesota RollerGirls are part of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, a women-only, skater-owned series of leagues. Since 2004, participation and fandom has grown exponentially. Whenever I'm at a bout, I marvel at the popularity and energy of this sport being played in my humble city by the 'sippi. All participants are unpaid amateurs and league proceeds are donated to charity. Plus Pabst Blue Ribbon is a major sponsor. You can't beat that. Why would you even try?

Saint Paul has been the little sister to Minneapolis for as long as I can remember, but with cool things like bouncing, RollerGirls, and The Roy, we got game. And if I'm to believe all the "best of" lists that come out in various magazines and on various websites, we're gaining hard on our big brother, like a RollerGirls jammer. It's a subculture subterfuge!

This is the Riverview Library over on George street  it was built in 1917 and there is another that looks just like it in the St. Anthony Park neighborhood.  Libraries can not replace the kindle, but I don't think the Kindle will replace the library either because anyone can use a library and borrow a book for free but the same can not be said about the kindle.  Some of the best things in life are free, and photogenic.

George street was named after George W.H. Bell who was one of the first to settle on the west side of St. Paul  back in 1851, and George street was one of the first streets in the area.  There might be more information about him at the library. There is some on Google but the information I found is in a book.