All my presents were from Mom, Dad or various relatives, etc.
The idea was that the stocking was filled by Santa, not the presents.
In the genie-empowered attorney-at-law I did reserve a set for myself. Because some of the F***s I intend to prosecute are vengeful and happy to use extra-legal means to get their revenge, or at least incite their followers to do so.
Of course, the retroactive changes to the timeline may limit said retribution slightly compared to this crappy one, but I’ll be a touch careful anyway.
I would say the railroad tracks, but I’m not sure which railroad tracks the poster’s envisioning, or how close. I mean, I rather like the sound of the occasional train a couple or a few times a day about 1500’ from the house; but I wouldn’t want to live 100’ from multiple tracks that pretty much always had trains on them.
I’ve gone to shoot planes, trains, & automobiles many dozens of times. I have no issue driving there & back (to my relatively quiet street) to do such. I am glad where I live is quiet.
Trains aren’t too bad as long as you’re not near a crossing, where they’re required to blow their horns. The trains near me have crossings.
It’s so Grinch-like of you to come clean with your horrific crimes, as your heart grew in size! I will recommend leniency to any court! Of course, I can’t say anything about any of the other posters using their new genie-derived power as either a defender or prosecutor.
My husband loves trains. Really loves them.
So seeing them go by every day would never get tiring for him.
I wouldn’t want to be close to a station because of the frequent announcements which are broadcast outside.
The only time trains blow their horns here is when there is somebody too close to the tracks. Unfortunately this is sometimes followed by the sound of sirens from emergency vehicles. 
We are actually close to a military base flight path, so we get to see the Patrouille Suisse rather often. But they normally only fly during normal working hours, plus weekends when they have a show. A few times a year the base has night training for propeller planes, and it sounds like a World War II movie for a few hours. But even that ends at 10:00 pm.
Only “police car” I’ve been in was that of a desk jockey acquaintance of my dad when I was a young teen, noted the portable magnetic light on the dash.
I currently live in the flight path for an airport. When the weather is nice, I like to sit outside and watch the planes fly overhead while following them on a app I have on my phone.
I also live on a flight path, and sometimes do the same when I’m in the back yard with my dog. 
I use Flightradar’s augmented reality function.
As for being a Grinch, I was dressed appropriately yesterday!
The ones that pass behind my house blow their whistles, several times each, for two grade crossings; one of them about a third of a mile north and one of them about a third of a mile south from the point directly uphill of my house. At that total distance the sound is pleasant. It might not be for a house right next to the crossing; though there are a couple much closer to one or the other crossing than my house is. We only get a few trains a day, though.
Our farmers’ market is a couple of blocks from a fire station, and under a flight path for a nearby airport. It’s quite a small airport and doesn’t get very large planes; but either of those can shut down conversation at the market briefly, though in either case it only happens occasionally.
The trains that run behind my house have two basic horn soundings. One is the rare, intermittent, evenly-spaced soundings that means someone is known to be working near a track somewhere. The other, even more rare version, is the frequent honking all at once that means some dimwit is near the track.
We live on a flight path but at quite a distance from the airport. The planes are usually still pretty far up when they pass overhead. It’s rare that I can hear them from inside the house, even in the summer with the windows open.
A high school friend of mine ended up in a cheap apartment right next to train tracks. I visited him one weekend and every hour or so a train would go rumbling by. He insisted he got used to it, but it was very noisy and the whole place shook slightly each time. I’m not sure I believed him.
I went on two Cleveland Police ride-alongs when I was in law school; those are the only times I’ve ever been in police cars. Fascinating experiences but a little unnerving. Once we arrived at the scene of a fatal street shooting within minutes of it occurring; it was the first time I ever saw a dead person outside of a funeral home.
I saw a movie with you two in it.
For me the alarm bells for the track workers is quite different that the horn used for dimwits. Their sound certainly doesn’t carry as far.
Switzerland has tried to eliminate most grade crossings, so there’s rarely any reason to use a horn for a grade crossing. If there is an uncontrolled grade crossing, such as on the side of a mountain, the driver may use their horn, especially if there are hikers about. It could be that they have to, even if there’s no one about, but I’m not familiar with the rules.
Which way the pillowcase is open? I’m sitting on my bed right now, and have no idea. I’m sure it changes while i sleep, too.
We run on a rail trail that parallels two active tracks. There are SIX grade crossings in about one mile / 1.6km from our meeting point…& they built apartments on the other side of the tracks. A train horn between one & three times an hour from sunrise to midnight ish every day of the year, maybe 50’ from your window? I certainly would not rent there!
West. The open end of the pillow case faces West.
My mother thought the open end of the pillowcase should face toward the tag on the pillow, so as to make the tag easier to read.
I very rarely feel the need to read the tag on pillows, and if I do want to read the tag I almost certainly want to do so while taking the pillowcase off anyway. I think the open end should be on the end opposite the tag, so if the pillowcase slips a bit the tag can’t rub against my face.
I’m pretty sure neither of us paid much attention to where the open end was relative to the rest of the bed; though it’s much too late to ask my mother. Maybe she did and I just didn’t notice.
I agree with you that the tag should be on the inside, not near the opening. I do sometimes host a vegan who wants to know that her pillow doesn’t have feathers or down in it, but i believe she trusts me to be careful about that. And if not, she can remove the pillowcase.