Zen Christmas

I do hope Fernando’s Christmas is Zen. He will be at the Dog Spa with 4 of his cousins.
Never travel anywhere overnight for Christmas unless you plan to go somewhere tropical and not celebrate Christmas in any traditional way–just a thought.

Again, the Buddhist in me must explain my Christmas celebration. I celebrate Christmas for many reasons even though I follow Buddhist philosophy in life. One reason is that I was raised Christian and it is tradition in my family for generations and generations to celebrate Christmas. In fact, after my ancestors left Druidism, they were converted into Christians with such passion that a few of my Irish Catholic great aunts were nuns. The second reason is that my husband was raised Christian and may just be a Christian still (I am unsure on this point). The third is for my children, as a few of them consider themselves Christian to some extent and they adore Christmas celebrations. And the fourth and most important reason I celebrate Christ’s birthday is because I believe him to be an amazing holy man. From all my research he was truly kind, compassionate, wise and a feminist. He had it all! I believe the Christian church perverted his teachings to suit their own means and that perhaps is the biggest Christian tragedy of all to me. So as you can see I genuinely celebrate the birth of Christ. I honour a great holy man whose teaching I also follow.

Now…for some exciting thesis news: Although the ethics review board at UBC has been difficult for me to deal with, I have recieved a little diddy of info that has pumped my ego and made me more excited than ever about my research. I have to make changes, yes, before I get my study passed. However, my thesis has caused the most discussion amongst the most experts and more time than any research proposal to date at UBCO. A feather in my cap, I dare say. I am pleased– it is such new and ground breaking research they had no past guidelines to compare it with. 🙂 I did manage to apply for 2 conferences this spring even though I said I wouldn’t–we’ll see if I get selected to present.

I hope to blog over Christmas–to at least post our Karaoke competion videos! 😉 I hope I can find the time. Tabs and I are ready with our dance/song duet. Although it is sung in such a high key, I blow out my voice box everytime we practice!