Out here in California, what many people have on their lawns this time of year is not snow, but Christmas decorations. And many of those decorations are reindeer. And these days, many of those reindeer are constructions of white wire studded with little white Christmas lights. The entire shopping district near our house is full of the things.

Now, we have boys. Two boys. Two young boys. As we drove through the business district last night, our boys—who have never seen a real gun fired—immediately decided that it was time to go hunting. BAM BAM! BAM BAM! There’s another deer over there! BAM BAM! From the sound, they weren’t firing rifles; they were firing small cannon. They don’t seem to understand that deer are not evil vicious monsters out to kill them, or that when you shoot one you want there to be something left that’s big enough to take home and cook.

Not that there’s anything worth eating on a white wire reindeer studded with Christmas lights.

Well, so then my three-year-old daughter got into it. BAM-BAM! she cried. In fact, she was more excited by the carnage (that’s what you get when you hunt deer from a car with bazookas, you know–carnage) than her brothers were.

So this is Monday, and every Monday we have my dad over for dinner, and after dinner Jane drives him back home. And little Mary went along, and as they drove along she looked eagerly for the next deer on the next lawn so that—BAM! BAM!—she could blow it to bits.

So what does my dad do?

Now, at this point there are a few facts you need to know. First, we live in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. These mountains are full of mule deer. And these mule deer come out of the mountains early in the morning, and eat the plants in my dad’s front yard. My dad has spent the last ten years in a running battle with the deer, and despite his watchfulness, care, and willingness to pursue, the deer are winning. He’s not tried actually shooting them; after all, this is a residential suburban neighborhood we’re talking about. You don’t do that.

But my word, was he ready to cheer little Mary’s foray into white wire deer demolition. In point of fact, he was spotting for her. There’s one! Over there! They’d have gladly gone through several more neighborhoods in pursuit of big game. (Next week, maybe, Jane will take them through that local shopping district I mentioned.)

So that’s the Christmas spirit at our house; how’s your Advent shaping up?