Naughty or Nice?

Walking through our neighborhood last year, I encounted this rather, um, unconventional Santa and snapped a picture.

I've been thinking about the whole 'naughty or nice' conundrum since my niece related the following story:

"The boys and I were driving to [my sister's house] last weekend and we saw a huge train, parked, and full of coal. I pointed it out to the boys and [the four-year-old boy] said, “there must be lots of naughty kids where that train is going!”

I had to laugh that the kid was paying attention to the songs and stories. He is hoping for a Game Boy Advance SP and no coal and switches.

There is lots of naughty loose in the world these days. Everything from the little bit naughty in an ironic way (the contractor indicted for using illegal workers who worked on building border fences) to the over the top naughty genocide killers.

I think there is lots of nice going around, too. Personally I think I fall in between somewhere. I spent most of the day seeing after my dad who had an outpatient surgery. Nice. But I complained about having to get up early and drive in the fog. Naughty.

There isn't much I want from Santa anyway. But being nice is more fun.