Sleigh Bells Ring . . . We are listening

But the more throaty sound of delivery truck exhaust mufflers permeates the air these days. The distinctive sounds of UPS, Fed-Ex, USPS & DHL trucks racing up and down our street brings anticipation and often frustration when they pass our house -- 'cause we still have a few undelivered purchases . . .

I do have memories of the rhythmic sound of sleigh bells -- just not recent memories that is. In our neck-of-the-woods, we don't see snow and so, therefore, do not see sleighs very often. I'm not sure anyone sees sleighs that often these days.

Needless to say though, those sounds have a magical air to them and we would happily replace some of the current modern sounds with sleigh bell sounds, just saying.

In Healdsburg our chance of seeing snowfall is slim -- but there always is the comics.

This past Thursday was the first day of winter and the early morning was definitely chilly -- in the 20s. I realize that "chilly" is a relative measure depending on geography.

Growing up in the Chicago suburbs 20° was relatively warm compared to the other alternatives -- but we feel the cold these days.

And, it was a short daylight day to boot. But according to the news, each day after last Thursday will be lengthened by a few seconds each day until we reach the longest daylight day of the year which in 2018 is on June 21st.

But -- one thing that is warming is that the San Francisco Forty-Niners are on a win streak -- three games in a row now.

I did not think that I would "get into" football this year, but Jimmy Garoppolo the new quarterback has sparked an interest not only for me but apparently for many Niner fans.

It really points out how important the quarterback role is the measure of a team. "Jimmy G" has turned the outlook around and has the right "feel" of a leader.

It is of course too bad that he did not start the season. And so we look forward to the coming games that are left this year and hopefully to next year.

Speaking of "warm or cold" the newly signed tax reform bill just passed this week, is for us in California, a wait and see.

It looks like some of the deductions that we use here will be available up to a certain limit.

Time will be the judge as to the value of this bill. Having been in the "tax" business for several years, I can only imagine the turmoil that is happening at the big prep firms.

No matter the new bill, I do not look forward to working on doing our tax returns. It is a period of mostly frustration trying to locate all the different documents related to what is needed.

Early on during the "selling" of the tax reform bill, I recall seeing a post-card sized federal return being touted -- what happened to that? Oh, well . . .

Speaking of reform . . . this was an ad from 1950, just 60 some years ago.

How times have changed -- this would certainly not fly these days, can you imagine.

In our house, it has been me that has done the vacuuming for the last 20 or so years -- partly because I find it therapeutic and mostly because it is a challenge.

We have three different vacuums that we use currently. One built-in, one corded and one battery operated. They each have their good features and then not-so-good features.

Up until a couple of months ago we also had a robot vacuum as well. We loved the novelty of the robot and enjoyed listening to it do its job throughout the house. It would find its way to all the rooms and when it needed to be recharged would return to the charging station -- amazing. We decided to gift it to someone who had a large house without as much clutter as we had, and they are enjoying it now.

And finally, it always seems that the time in-between Thanksgiving and Christmas goes by sooo fast.
And it is sooo true.

There are only two days, TWO short days before Christmas. And we still have shopping to do -- but just for grocery type things -- thank goodness.  While writing this post today, two more delivery trucks brought packages, just-in-time.

So, there you have a small peek at our week. We wish a great Christmas season to each, and we'll see you all "in a few" !    😀