Thankful

"What are you thankful for?" I ask the kids on our way to the grocery store to buy a turkey.
"I'm thankful for you Leila," Ali says.
She gives a more general answer, "I'm thankful for everything God made, my friends and my family. And education. If we didn't have an education we wouldn't know about education," she announces.
I plan to make turkey for dinner tomorrow to join Thanksgiving and Eid el Kebir. It's not traditional for the latter, but I want to make one. Leila wants turkey today. We compromise with turkey pepperoni pizza. The kids make their own pizzas. Ali, of course, doesn't really eat his. They are kind of overdone, because the oven didn't bake them properly.
Yesterday both kids were home and so Ali watched t.v. all day and Leila was on the computer. Today I limited them to one hour. Ali spent the morning playing with a string and then pretending to be a mailman and delivering a box to me over and over. Leila opened a restaurant called "dancing" where she, as chef, waiter, and owner, danced around. ALi got to be water boy. When I got up to dance she said I was a strange customer.
Ali has 3 dollars he's been carrying around. "What are you going to buy me for Christmas?" I ask him. "Nothing," he tells me. Then he decides on something and whispers in my ear- "An eyeball that flashes. And it makes food for your students. It has a hole in it, and you order the food and it comes out the hole. And it only costs 3 dollars!"
He pretends Santa's on the phone and hands it to me. "Santa says little boys who watch t.v. all the time don't get presents," I tell him. He calls Santa himself to verify. I tell him he's talking to the naughty elf. "No, you are," he tells me. This game has gone on for two days now. Lets see how long it lasts.
Leila is counting down the days to Christmas,too.