Last night over Grandma's birthday cake, we were discussing Edward's snowman and how it's a good thing Santa didn't have to bring him since he's so big and bulky. I said he might have needed to call in an extra reindeer. "You know, Joe, one of the reserve reindeer." Edward just gave me a "whatever Mom" kind of look, but Daniel, who had already left the table but was lingering on the stairs waiting for Edward piped up: "What about New Jersey?"

What??
We asked for more information.

"New Jersey," he said. "You know, the famous reindeer who died when someone pulled off his antlers."

Um. O.K. We asked a lot of questions trying to determine if this was something he'd heard in a book at school or seen on TV. It appears that he has invented this tale out of whole cloth. And he has more details.

• New Jersey is so strong he can pull an ox with a wooden wagon carrying four people
• New Jersey was 102 when he died but he's 106 now. (note: I think that's just the way he indicates that the death occurred 4 years ago. When we talk about Will, we say he would be eight now even though he was a baby when he died.)
• New Jersey was de-antlered by Eli--not the one in my class, but just someone with that same name (note: Daniel has had some trouble with his classmate Eli's aggressive behavior including a pretty brutal scratching incident just before the winter break.)

Stay tuned for further details in the evolving story of New Jersey the famous reindeer.