Caylee Hammack pretty much owes her music career to Buddy, the Elf. She says Elf, starring Will Ferrell, is her favorite Christmas movie, because she started singing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and her dad thought she had a great voice.

“That is the whole reason I started singing was that song,” Caylee recalls. “I was leaning up against the kitchen island when they played ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ in the movie, Elf, and I was singing along to it. I was 13 when it came out. And my dad said, ‘Caylee, you can actually sing.’ I was like, ‘No, don’t make fun of me.’ We were always tease each other, so I thought he was teasing me.’ And he’s like, ‘No, Caylee, I think you should try it,’ and that’s when I signed up for this little talent show in my hometown and I completely embarrassed myself. I sang, ‘I Will Survive,’ and I froze on the first lines – ‘At first I was afraid, I was p-pe-pet-petrified.’ And completely flunked it, but the whole reason I tried out for it is because my dad heard me singing in the kitchen to ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ in the Elf movie. So, Elf is probably my favorite Christmas movie.”

The ever-crafty and creative Caylee recalls her favorite Christmas present one year. “My favorite Christmas present was my mom and dad gave me an art table that had a light underneath it so I could trace things, and I had a place for all my markers and shelves for all my paper and I was just so excited. I was so excited. So, I got a craft table and they wrapped everything that year in Hello Kitty wrapping paper. Yup! That was my favorite Christmas.”