jensen got the red plate!

We have this strange family tradition. I wish I could say that it was my creative idea, but it wasn't. I read about it in Family Fun magazine years ago and we have been doing it ever since. On Sundays the kid that sets the table picks someone to get the "red plate". The only rule is that you can't give yourself the red plate. If you get the red plate you get showered with compliments, pretty much through the whole meal. We each take turns going around and telling that person what we like about them. We are very specific too.

Today Jensen got the red plate.

* Brady said that she is really good on the piano.
*Tanner said that she is good with people of all ages. He noted how so many of the little kids that she babysits love her and run up to her at church. He mentioned the elderly people at Gigi's assisted living center too. Jensen will sit for hours with them and let them talk to her, even when they repeat themselves over and over again - she doesn't mind. (The management have even talked to her about becoming a regular volunteer.)
* I told her that I think she is one of the few people I know who is so completely without guile. Then I told her what that meant. :O)
* Brent told her that she is so trustworthy. When she promises to do something she does it. She doesn't gossip or say unkind things about others.
* McKinley said Jensen is nice to everyone, even when they are not nice to her. (I thought that was kind of funny, was it a confession of sorts?)
* Reagan told her that she loved that when they (the little girls) get scared in the middle of the night from thunderstorms she lets them come get in her bed and she reads them stories until they feel better.

One of the other things I love about doing the red plate is that it is interesting to me how they (the kiddo setting the table) seem intuitive about who NEEDS to get the red plate. Maybe they get a vibe? Like, if someone has had a tough week with a friend or a bad grade or something. It's almost like they KNOW someone is in need of getting their "cup filled" but yet I know they don't!?!