Coal and Switches

Luke and Steve went to run some errands last Saturday. They saw a friend from church at Safeway. He asked Luke what he got for Christmas. Steve said, "tell him you got coal and switches." Ever the obedient child, Luke repeated what Steve said, having no idea what it meant.
On Sunday, Steve went to church very early to rehearse with the praise team, as it was his Sunday to help lead the worship time. Luke usually goes and plays with another boy before church starts. But, we elected to keep him home because there wasn't any Sunday school this week. Any child older than 2 was expected to sit through the service with their parents. Keep in mind, Luke has gone to church for more than 4 years and has never sat through an entire church service. There is almost always someone available in his classroom to watch him. But, feeling brave, we marched into the 'big church' as Luke calls it. Of course, he spotted several of his friends and wanted to sit with all of them. The place was packed and there wasn't room, so we chose a place near the front where he could see Steve singing. I managed to hold him through all of the opening songs so he could maintain his view of his dad. We finally finished and settled in to our seats when they announced that all the children could come forward to hear a story. I figured he would be afraid. But he surprised me with his bravery and insisted that he go up front. If I had known what was coming, I would have sat on him to keep him in his seat.
Our friend, Mrs. Plett, worship leader and most excellent kindergarten teacher, sat everybody down on the steps at the front of the sanctuary. Luke muscled his way in to sit beside her, then saw his buddy Brayden at the back, so he raced down the steps to sit beside him. Mrs. Plett announced that she needed 5 people to share what they got for Christmas.
"Oh, me, me!" Luke shouted from the back of the group. "I have something to tell you! Pick me!"
"Yes, Luke? What did you get for Christmas?" she said, handing him the microphone.
"I got coal and switches!"
Silence. "Steve?" Mrs. Plett asked, looking around for Steve to translate.
Steve and I were too busy sinking in to our seats. Did I mention it was a packed house?
"Oh, oh, I mean, Geotrax. I got Geotrax." He quickly corrected himself. I guess he wanted to make sure he told the truth. We are in church, after all.
I took solace in the fact that only Steve and I knew what he said. He really seemed to enjoy the spotlight, because he clamored for the microphone once again. Mrs. Plett did an excellent job of fending him off, though, and finished the story without further interruption.
He strutted back to his seat, clearly quite proud of his achievements.
I took him out in the narthex toward the end of the service because he couldn't keep quiet. Several people came up and complimented me on his 'cuteness'. It was obvious to me that they had no idea about the coal and switches. That's good news. Be careful what you tell a 4 year old, they might actually repeat it at a most inopportune time.