CHICAGO (WBBM) - Drew Peterson talked to Newsradio 780 yesterday - a week before Christmas - about Santa Claus, his two youngest children, and his missing wife Stacy.

WBBM's Steve Miller reports.

Drew Peterson told Newsradio 780 his family had done its shopping and was doing the best it could "under the circumstances."

Peterson declined to talk on tape.

About his two-year-old daughter and four-year-old son--the children of Stacy? 

Peterson, a former Bolingbrook police sergeant, said "We do the best we can.  We're going to have a Santa Claus come to visit them and stuff.  We're going to try putting that together and make the best of a bad situation."

Do the younger kids still think that Stacy's coming back?

"Let's hope so," Peterson said.

"I think they're kind of oblivious to everything," he said.  "They really don't know what's going on.  They just spend a lot of time with Dad."

Peterson acknowledged he had hired a private investigator to look into Stacy's disappearance.

Asked if that was a positive step, Peterson said, "I could use something positive."

Drew Peterson is considered a suspect in the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, his fourth wife.