This happened around Christmas time, the boys were playing with our resin nativity set and Kenny asked me when Jesus was born.

I said, "In Bethlehem" - not exactly answering his question. So he insisted, "Yes, but WHEN?"

I was tempted to get into a triumphant discussion about how our calendar year reflects the significance of the Incarnation but instead I gave a straight answer, "4 BC". He didn't get it. "But what year - 2000 and what? 2005?"

He knows about number lines but not about numbers left of zero, so I dropped the "BC" part and just said, "4, year 4." I think he got it.

It's like C. Montgomery Burns on The Simpsons having social security card 000-00-0002 (one after FDR himself) - you get a sense that he's older than dirt.