'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house…

…not a person was stirring except your friendly real estate agent.

I awakened this morning (December 24) at 3am. I'm not the kind of guy that can fall back to sleep, so a little meditation and out the door at 4am to 24 Hour Fitness in San Ramon.

I was in the office at 6:30am working on Bob Connelly's new blog. Bob is running for town council in Alamo, California. Craig and Bob are friends even though they play cutthroat pinochle. I spent an hour editing video we shot yesterday and posting it to the web and AlamoTownCouncil.com.

After a cup of capucino with Paul and a little work, I blasted out of the office to Walnut Creek to begin my Christmas shopping.

I like shopping on the last day or two before the holiday. I find the contrast between "Peace on Earth" and "Road Rage" a very interesting dynamic. I also enjoy standing in line and observing the sales people, the customers and the interaction between the two.

I suppose having spent 32 years in the airline industry trying to get people "home for the holidays" contributes to this fascination of mine. Seeing all the news reports this week on weather and flight delays, I can safely say, I'm glad I'm not part of that mix this year – oh, the stories I could tell or years past.

The staff at Crate & Barrel in Walnut Creek, Ca were doing an excellent job. I was a bit disappointed as there really was no line. That was not the case a couple of hours later at Williams-Sonoma where it tokk 20 minutes – ahhh, the joy, the joy!

I stopped at California Pizza Kitchen for a quick barbeque chicken salad. I think I was the 14th customer through the door after they opened.

I was cruising the shops at Broadway Plaza looking for a gift for tonight's party when I ran across this line of anxious children in the rain still trying to get their wish list in front of Santa before his big night.

Around the corner, I ran into my neighbors – Dar & Rageda. I joined them for a cup of coffee and as the rain poured down, we chatted about Slumdog Millionaire, Madoff, and assorted joys and challenges of humans and societies.

I popped into Nordstroms and managed to escape without using my plastic to take advantage of some of those 40% off racks. This weekend will be the bulk of my gift buying – I'm always looking for those after sale sales.

The contrast I spoke of earlier was clearly present between this violinist playing sweet holiday tunes and the idiot driving a car with the license plate – REE VOLT – who floored it to beat the pedestrians into the crosswalk at Main Street and Mt. Diablo. 

Another successful year!