We're having an afternoon snack the other day and Wil very sweetly brought some crackers over to the kitchen. I said 'Oh, no thank you. I've already had my crackers, but it was nice of you to offer.'

I warmed up some pot roast vegetables for myself, and asked him if he wanted some, as a joke, because I knew he didn't like them. He said, sweetly and sincerely 'No thank you, but it was nice of you to offer.'

I love that boy.

We went to Irmo Middle School for "Lunch with Santa" on Saturday because Wil has asked repeatedly to meet Santa. He knows it's just someone pretending to be Santa, that Santa doesn't exist, but he's still enamored with the idea. The middle schoolers performed some songs, solos and a dance. Elizabeth really enjoyed it. But, of course, meeting Santa was still the big attraction. Wil told him he wanted Rescue Heroes for Christmas. Elizabeth said she wanted the My Little Pony Castle. (Translation: she saw a commercial for it on television that morning. Then she surprised me by repeating the wish at Daisy Girl Scouts last night.) But the bigger deal was explaining to them about not telling other kids that Santa isn't real. The twins know the story of St. Nicholas, and the only Santa-business we've ever done is buying presents for less fortunate children. So I explained that even though we know the truth about Santa, we have to keep it a secret. They were very impressed by having such an important secret, so hopefully they won't be the bringers of bad tidings to their classmates. However, it made me hope very much that there aren't many more times in their lives when I have to tell my kids not to tell the truth.

I've missed posting some good stuff lately, but here's a funny little conversation Elizabeth had with one of Sean's students at our InterVarsity Christmas party on Saturday night: They were discussing our Christmas decorations and how there will be more decorations at GiJi and GrampAl's house when we go there for Christmas. The student asked if Elizabeth was going to get anything in her stocking, referring to the stocking hanging on our mantle. Elizabeth said seriously, "Now that is a problem. I have two stockings. There is another one at GiJi's house because that is where we are going to do Christmas." We couldn't help laughing.