An old column about Dennis

Here's a column about Dennis from a year and a half ago. I will be posting more about my middle son, Xander. He's quite a handful, but lately Dennis has been funnier.

----

Sunday School to the Rescue
All parents want their kids to embrace certain religious beliefs. I take my kids to church and send them to Sunday school. But, of course, most of their religious upbringing involves what they learn at home, from my husband and myself.
That’s where things derail.
Last Easter, being the good mommy that we all know I am, I decided to minimize the Easter bunny and colored eggs and focus our holiday on the death and resurrection of Christ. Our oldest had just turned 4 years old, and of course, he was the brightest 4 year old who had ever lived. Charming and handsome, too, but I digress.
My husband and I explained to him about the death of Christ. Then we told him we had good news. Jesus was alive again! He looked at us like we each sprung an extra head. Not a bad idea. It would double the odds that he’d listen to us. Again I digress.
Knowing children the way I do, I popped in a video about Christ, and Dennis “saw” the empty tomb himself. Since he saw it on TV, it must be true.
While stuffing him in his pajamas a few hours later, he looked pensive. That is quite an accomplishment for a 4 year old. As I wondered over this intelligent child of mine, it occurred to me to ask him what he was thinking about. He posed one very important question to me:
If Jesus is alive, why doesn’t He come to church?
True to form, I launched into a dissertation on the Holy Spirit, to which he stared blankly at one of my two heads. By the time I was done, in addition to again sprouting a second head, I managed to get my 4 year old to say the words “Mommy, I want to go to bed.”