The 'rents and I walked over to the capitol for the tree lighting ceremony. It had some pretty hokey entertainment, but there was a youth choir from Oakland who absolutely wowed the audience. The Governor's remarks were - uh - sincere - if unrehearsed. It was fun to see him up close and personal.
I'm getting too old and feeble to stand in a crowd for more than 5 minutes, though. Everyone annoys me. Even little children piss me off. Actually, it was their parents who pissed me off because they neglected to reign in really bad behavior. I had to rescue a toddler from having her hair pulled out by another toddler. The mother of the "victim" was very grateful to me, the other mother took her son and slunk out of the crowd, presumably to beat him senseless (one hopes).
Merry Christmas.
Shunryu Suzuki: Study Yourself
The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism. It is to study ourselves.
