Salad, Santa, and self-centeredness

A few good friends came over for a play date today. With a near-empty fridge, I scrounged together a meal least fitting for three hungry toddlers--salad. But a tasty coating of Asian dressing made the meal as savory as any meat dish, in my opinion. Empty plates at the end were proof enough.

Karis is rather charismatic in her prayer style. Whenever somebody prays out load in her presence, she takes it as an invitation to join in saying her own prayer, just as loudly (if not louder). I've been hesitant to correct since any spiritual involvement from a child is a beautiful, complicated, growing thing. When I started to pray out loud before lunch, she lept in with this beautiful number:

Dear God,
Thank you for me and Mama K and Daddy and Karis and Mrs. Nikki and me and....(pause).... Santa Claus. Amen.

Fighting back laughter and feeling slightly embarrassed, I turned to Nikki who immediately commented on the skillfulness of working oneself into a short prayer not once but three times. A skill? Perhaps. An indicator of even more prayers needed? Most definitely.