Seasonal Events

Last weekend was very full of seasonal events:

• Friday:
  
  I took a vacation day to go shopping in Chinatown. Two friends and I have gone on
  this day trip during each of the last 25 years. We take CalTrain up the San Francisco peninsula then take Muni bus to Chinatown. We walk through the Lion Gate that
  separates Chinatown
  from Downtown and proceed down Grant. There are shops we always visit plus new
  shops each year. We eat lunch at Sam Wo on Washington Street, go to the fortune cookie factory
  in Ross Alley, then come back down the other side of Grant before taking the bus and
  train home in time for dinner.

  Friday night, we joined our extended family for Hanukkah dinner, complete with
  dreidel games, potato latkes, and lighting menorah candles to prayers in Hebrew. Some of the
  toys from Chinatown were much appreciated by the smallest members of the family.
  They particularly liked the Froggy Squeeze toys and the Slinky walking coil.

• Saturday:
  
  My daughter had a wrestling tournament so we had to get up unreasonably early
  to get her there in time for weighing in.
  We put up Christmas lights on the house and did household chores most of the day.
  Jessica and Paul picked a tree at a local lot and carried it home to soak in a
  bucket before we bring it inside.

  We dropped off 5 bags of used clothes at
  Santa Maria Urban Ministry in San Jose. SMUM is an outreach ministry of
  the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. They distribute food and clothes and
  provide educational programs to serve those in need within 8 Central San Jose zip codes.

  That night, we took Jessica and her boyfriend to dinner and the “Frolic” show (San
  Francisco’s first CircusDragBurlesque Festival) at the
  CounterPULSE performance space south of Market. We have been to several of their
  shows this year and always have a wonderful time. We particularly looked for our friend
  Susan Voyticky who was in two trapeze dance
  pieces by Eat Cake Productions.

• Sunday:
  
  Jessica had a college interview with Univ. of Rochester. As usual, she met
  the alumni interviewer at Starbucks. I think each of the 5 interviews so far has
  been held at one or another Starbucks coffee shop.

  At 12:30 p.m. we went to service at
  Santa Maria Virgen Episcopal church in Milpitas. Santa Maria’s Vicar, Padre Efren
  Garza, offers a completely bilingual service in Spanish and English. Yesterday was
  the annual visitation by the Rt. Reverend Sylvestre Romero so we got to see our
  Bishop confirm about ten young men and women. Two of the girls were dressed like
  lovely little brides but everyone looked handsome and well dressed, mostly in white.
  There were about 175 people at the service so it was standing room only in the back.

  After church, we went to a Christmas party at some friends’ house and then came home
  to work some more on Jessica’s college applications.