It didn't rain during this year's Christmas In The Park tree lighting, which was made the long ceremony more bearable. San Jose, at events like these, feels like a small town. Local dignitaries speak and school choirs perform, but it is nothing as polished as truly big cities, like San Francisco or New York City.

This year the city installed snow machines on lampposts throughout downtown. I'm not sure what they use to simulate it, but it's not very convincing. The machines spread holiday cheer every four or five minutes since the real thing doesn't seem to want to visit us on its own. It's like the Bay Area invited snow over, but snow said it would rather hang out in New England for Christmas.

While waiting, I ordered a twenty-four-ounce cup of mocha java, gourmet coffee freshly ground and brewed right before my eyes. It cost five dollars and came without a lid. If I had known it would be so expensive, I would have gone to Starbucks for a bargain. It didn't taste like five-dollar coffee.

I wandered through the crowd, looking at exhibits and trees, pausing every now and then to see if they were close to lighting anything. At one point, I inadvertently stood beneath a snow machine, which awoke suddenly and showered my lidless drink with faux snow. I looked at my cup in horror, considered watering a tree, but finally decided I wasn't going to waste my money. It still didn't taste like five-dollar coffee.