On Easter's Eve, we suffered through hours of severe weather. We enjoyed high winds, hail, rain and tornados (which fortunately didn't come closer than 3-5 miles from the Castle). The mercury dropped a good 20 degrees, and we decided to build a fire. Most houses here do have fireplaces although it is not clear why. Even in winter, the Air Conditioner is used more than the fireplace.
Once the storms had died down a bit, the Queen (May She Live Forever) and I discussed the safety of taking baths. We decided that it was a good window of opportunity to clean up for Easter Sunday. She immediately took the princess back to the tub while I started the fire. She later relayed to me this conversation:
(The Princess is in the tub, getting cleaned up. Her splashing and playing is interrupted by the sound of distant thunder. She looks up with a worried expression...)
Princess: Mommy, I don't want to be dead. I wanted to go in my room and play with toys when I'm done with my bath.
Queen: It's ok. The thunder is too far away to hurt you.
Princess: (long pause) Will there be toys in heaven?
After her bath, she came into the Great Hall where I had a nice fire roaring. We were burning old financial records and the room was toasty warm. Standing in her pink full-length sleeper (with footies of course), she stared at the bright flames for a while. As I fed additional fuel into the fire, the following dialogue ensued, which I later relayed to the Queen (MSLF):
Princess: (staring into the flames) If we had a fire and it was right before Christmas, then Santa Claus would get burned up.
King: Oh No!
Princess: It's ok, Daddy. He would either be in heaven or hell.
It is unfortunate that she had to go to bed soon after. There is no predicting what else she might have added to this post.
