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By EMILY SPARACINO | Staff Writer

NORTH SHELBY – Deputy James Sellers, Oak Mountain Elementary School’s resource officer, is known for going above and beyond the call of duty to put a smile on people’s faces, and he did so again with one last surprise before Christmas break.

Sellers built a wooden Christmas tree and hung coffee mugs he designed for each faculty and staff member on each side.

Each mug features a staff member’s picture on the front, along with a bluebird and a special element depicting that person’s job on the back.

OMES Principal Jan Curtis said her office staff members brought their mugs to her a couple of weeks ago, and she thought that was the extend of Sellers’s project.

“They put them out in my office so I could look at them and choose my favorite one I could drink out of each day,” Curtis said. “I had seven mugs at that point. I thought that was it.”

When Curtis arrived at work the next week, other staff members started bringing her the mugs Sellers had designed for them.

“They brought them to me one by one, 88 mugs in all,” she said. “He spent his Thanksgiving break making these mugs.”

Curtis said Sellers is constantly doing something special at OMES, and has no trouble keeping the students and staff laughing.

In keeping with tradition, the Warren family gave Sellers a dose of his own cheer and decorated his patrol vehicle.

“He does so many kind things for our students and our staff members,” Curtis said. “He definitely is someone that all of our staff members can count on to help. He is willing to do whatever needs to be done here at the school.”