Pre-Christmas Meanderings

Great memories! This will be the final installment of pictures. It has taken me all of a week as I have tried to get back in the swing of things. The only good thing is that it is a slow time of year as many of our agents take the final two weeks of the year off. We had our Christmas party and white elephant gift exchange on Wednesday. I bought everyone gift cards again this year. The company allows $40 per person toward our celebration and I am able to buy $50 gift cards to restaurants as many of the restaurants will give you $100 worth of gift cards for $80. I actually had two of my employees complain that I only give restaurant cards and they would prefer Visa cards. That won't happen as you have to pay a $3.95 service fee to buy a Visa card. I offered next year to buy a few $40 retail gift cards. We draw numbers and pick the cards. This year I went out of pocket to buy a couple of $50 retail cards as they were offered for $90. It still amazes me that people complain about free stuff. I've had the same problem with our lunches as I've reported before. I do have about three people that always make a point to come up and thank me after the festivities and they are some of my favorite people in the office. It was a white elephant gift exchange and oddly, I ended up with a white elephant wax warmer which are used in restrooms to leave a fresh scent behind after business is attended to.

 

It is Samantha's birthday tomorrow. She met a little friend in Mexico at our condo. The little girl is from Las Vegas, her birthday is in December, they both lost front teeth this year, they were both staying in building 4 and they were both traveling with aunts, uncles and grandparents. It was pretty funny. They got together once at the pool and they did the turtle races together. Her family ended up on the same flight back to Santa Ana with us and the girls sat together and played on the plane. Sam ended up going to her birthday party last Monday night and she will attend Sam's tomorrow. Pretty funny.

 

Dad and Shirley are on their way home as I write this and will not return home until after midnight tonight. It was Shirley's birthday on Tuesday and she was able to relax and enjoy her birthday in Paradise. I look forward to when Darla and I can take two weeks in Mexico or even three weeks. We have two weeks a year time, but can turn it into a month by either staying at a two bedroom at the Grand Mayan or staying in the one bedroom side for four weeks in the Spa tower.

 

Darla had her Christmas event at the foster agency that she works for yesterday. All of the families came. Unfortunately, one of the foster families that she handles had a death in the family while we were in Mexico. The Mom had a stroke and was convalescing in the hospital and then had a heart attack and passed away. The foster Dad was there and the kids are getting by. It was pretty traumatic.

Darla went with her friend, Denise, who also works at the agency and she was dressed as Mrs. Claus. The kids loved it.

 

 

We are having a good month at work, but our goal this month was actually below what we wrote in 2014. We are track to break that number and I'll be able to take the gang to lunch. I am not counting any hens before the eggs hatch, though. This is an odd time of year. We'll have a big day followed by a dead day this time of year. Hopefully, we can hit our goal and start the year off with a lunch for the troops.

 

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with an underwriter from a competitor's shop. He called me out of the blue and wanted to meet and talk about any opportunities that I might have and what he could bring to the table for me. Our company has lost a number of underwriters to this competitor and I'm anxious to hear why he is looking and what the situation is at his shop. It should be an interesting lunch.

 

I did not play any golf this weekend and haven't played in December. It has been cold and wet with frost delays and I was gone two weekends. That will change on Tuesday as I was invited by one of my agents to play golf at his country club here in Roseville. I'll work in the morning and meet him around 11:30 for a quick lunch and then we will play golf with he and a couple of his agent buddies from a shop we don't currently work with. This could be a good sports marketing outing for me.

I spent about four and a half hours Saturday cleaning the pool, clearing out all of the downspouts on the gutters, putting up Christmas lights and clearing out the last of the leaves from the side, back and front yards. The longest chore was cleaning the leaves out of the pool. I had taken the sweep out of the pool before our holiday and the leaves had filled the pool and sunk to the bottom. Some of the piles of leaves that I pulled out almost bent the pole holding the net. I finally got most of the leaves out and then vacuumed the entire pool and the water is sparkling again. I shocked and cleaned the spa and then found time for a nap before the Dallas game came on. They lost and that is good at this point as they prepare for next year and the draft. It was great to see Kellen Moore in there and he will start the rest of the year and we can make a determination if he is the guy we want as our principal backup next year. He was great at Boise State and it remains to be seen if he can bring his game to the NFL. Some can and some can't.

 

We work a half day on Thursday and have Christmas Day off. Next week is the same for New Years. Darla and I will host friends on New Years for prime rib, games and football. We look forward to ringing in the New Year. It has been a great year personally, but a tough year professionally. I see very big things ahead for the office in 2016, so I'll raise a glass to 2015 and be glad to welcome in the New Year.

 

I hope you all have a GREAT Christmas Day and make sure that Christ is right in the middle of your Christmas celebration. Be well and God bless each of you during this holiday season. Ciao.