Last night, J had a "ladies night out". Normally, this is a chance for us boys to have a lot of fun, but I’ve been fighting a cold. So, instead we just did a "movie night".

Movie nights are a tradition that started the first time I found myself alone with C and couldn’t come up with anything to do. We make popcorn, turn off all the lights, and settle down to watch a video.

C really enjoys movie nights. N is starting to appreciate them too.

Because I don’t want to get trapped into watching the same movie over and over, I never give a choice of features. The movie that I pick is the one that’s "playing tonight." – as in "let’s see what’s playing tonight!"

Well, about a year ago we had a movie night starring Snow White. I was a little concerned that C wouldn’t know what was going on. Disney bad guys don’t tend to end up well, and I wanted to make sure C wouldn’t be upset when the Evil Queen got what was coming to her.

The first time the Evil Queen appeared, I said "Ooohhh.. That’s the Evil Queen! She’s bad. The Eeeevilll Queeeenn!"

C agreed, "yep, the Eeeevvviillll Queeeennn!"

And we watched the movie. Every time the evil queen appeared, C would say "look, look! It’s the Eeeevvillll Queeeen!" and I’d shudder appropriately.

Everything was going well – until the Evil Queen got knocked off the mountainside by the dwarves. C was absolutely devastated. He didn’t know what to do. "The Evil Queen! Oh no! What happened?"

I tried to explain that she was trying to hurt Snow White and that she’d fallen down the mountain, but he could care less about Snow White. He didn’t calm down – and we’re talking real tears here – until I reassured him that the Evil Queen was okay. She had, in fact, just fallen a little way down the mountain. At which time she’d gone home to have some cookies and milk.

All this time that he’d been saying "the Eeeeevilll Queeeennn", I’d thought he’d been scared of her. In fact, he’d been bonding with her. She was his favorite character in the whole movie.

To his way of thinking, Snow White and those pesky dwarves were just annoying speed bumps in the glorious path of the Evil Queen.

I can’t wait until C starts dating.