Quotables: For the Love of Dad, Short Prayers and Saint Nick

We were driving to Caed's friend's house when he confessed. "Can I tell you and Dani a secret, Mom?"

"What is it, Bud?"

"Well, I just can't stop making presents for Daddy. I just love him so much, and I just want to keep making presents for him all the time."

Well, that would explain the three "stuffed animals" he fashioned out of construction paper, the air force mystery book he "wrote", the Ohio State fun facts notebook he composed, and the "I love Daddy" diploma that he made. All in the last 24 hours. All for his Dad.

I hate to break it to him, but the relentless present-making born out of love for his Daddy is hardly a secret.

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This morning, after Larry prayed what Caed deemed to be a fairly long prayer, Caed remarked, "You know, Daddy, if you want to make the prayer quicker you can just say 'thank you God for everything', and then you don't have to say all the other things and take a long time."

This prompted a response from Larry about how prayer is about relationship, not something to check off the list as quickly as we can, but to talk to God about what is in our heart the same way we talk to Daddy about our day. He asked Caed whether, when we pray, we ever hear God talking back to us, expecting his six year old to respond with the literal and obvious answer of "no".

But Caed surprised us both. "Well, God doesn't talk in a regular voice," he replied, "But sometimes He can tell us things, ya know, like talking straight into our hearts."

Yeah, and sometimes He can tell us things through the words of a six-year old.

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Dani asked me today whether God made Santa. Is that a trick question? I think it is.

I had to break up an argument on a similar topic between Caed and Dani last week. Dani insisted Santa knew what all the kids in the whole world were up to--be it sleeping or awake, bad or good. Hmm, wonder where she picked that idea up?

Caed took the stance that whatever Santa knew was due to the help from the Elf on the Shelf. (He's nothing if not theologically sound, yes?)

He rolled his eyes at Dani's foolishiness, "He only knows if you're sleeping or awake because the Elfs on the Shelfs tell him. It's not like he's God."