MASONIC FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY, some thoughts

MASONIC FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY

I am ecstatic. We planned for 40 and more than 92 came. We planned to self-finance and, although the final numbers are not in, we came pretty close to doing just that. But, the numbers do not come even close to describing how big of a success the Party was.

It brought Harmony and the other concordant bodies together. It brought out our young families, their wives and children so that they could enjoy a part of the rights and benefits. It gave our young men and women a chance to show what they are capable of accomplishing. These are things that are far more important than mere numbers.

There are lots of people who made this a success and, foolishly, I am going to try and name them all. Firstly, the principal planners – Deborah Montgomery from Rainbow, Shawn Rains from DeMolay, Ted & Linda Dusablon from Olympia. We have been meeting for three months planning to make the party a success. Many others have been involved; from Harmony – Ed & Karolyn Woods, Bruce York, George Gaston, Derek Lathrope and Dave Harris. Other people who have attended meetings include Ben Schatz, Rick Bonnell and Warren Husted. Let us not forget the support we received from WM Brian and WM Elect Casper. Particular thanks are due to Tim York for his cheesecake – Mint chocolate chip with Devon Cream, yes, Tim, you did go over the top – well done. From Olympia we have received support from Jon Anderson and Don Bullock (who operates a mean vacuum cleaner) plus it was such a pleasure to see Dick Flinton and his grand-daughter, Michelle, in attendance, you are doing such a wonderful job with her, Dick. We must mention Linda Dusablon’s cheesecakes, again they were to die for. Let me not forget her muffins, too. From DeMolay we need to thank everyone – the lads turned out to help set up the room, they helped run the kitchen and they helped clean up. It may not be that they will immediately appreciate how that kind of work is fun, but when they get to my age they will look back on these times very fondly. Thanks are also due to Shawn’s mom, Shirley, for her cheesecakes which were delicious. Then we must thank Rainbow. At the start of the year their Chapter hardly existed, now it is a thriving, growing organization. Deborah must take a lot of the credit for that but the young ladies deserve credit, too. In particular Susan seemed to be everywhere and I observed her growing up right in front of our eyes. We were pleased to see Kathy and Diana Beckman from Job’s Daughters at the Party. We have also received support from Malcolm Leach.

We started off with Deborah’s introductions game. This was highly successful in getting everyone to meet everyone else. The Sebetich family was the first to finish and, thereby I trust, got to meet everyone. Adam, you are so blessed to have such a wonderful family. It was lovely to walk into the Lodge Room and see everyone in small groups chatting away to each other. We moved on to Santa Claus. Every young kid who attended got a present. Our thanks to Br Guy Pease who charmed the kids with his wonderful style.

Then came the gift exchanges. I did not see the “tweens” but Susan had them well organized. In the main Lodge room Casper took control and complete bedlam reigned. As we watched the beer bucket, the pocket tools and the “women’s stuff” move in and out of Casper’s grasp it became evident that give and take can be fun.

We moved on to the potato bar. By the time we got there everyone was hungry and the potato bar was a great success. This was Deborah’s idea and I would have said you could not happily feed almost one hundred people for less than $100 but she did. It’s a good thing Linda volunteered to make a cheesecake because the cheesecakes hit the spot for dessert.

After feeding we got to the piñata. With Brian organizing and Derek on the pole this was great fun. The kids diving for the candy as it is spilled will be an annual highlight. Despite some well received prompting from Derek’s Dad none of the kids succeeded in nailing him. It was not that they were averse to the concept but the appeal of the candy seemed greater. Derek’s Dad remembered, with tears in his eyes, how not so long ago, Derek was one of those little tots scrambling after the candy.

We postponed the pie in the face. I have never seen such a relieved look as the one on Brian’s face. This part of the activity needs to moved up in the agenda. We topped the Christmas tree – thanks to White Shrine and Amaranth and Bruce York.

Then we tried Christmas Carols. Our particular thanks go out to Baxter Harwood for his valiant efforts to try and get us to sing. While it was fun trying, we did not succeed too well in bursting forth with Christmas spirit with the carols. Maybe when our English brethren visit us in the Spring they can resurrect in us the ability to sing as a group. Thank you to Deborah for bringing her guitar along.

So, if I have forgotten anyone please e-mail me and I will adjust the blog to include them. I believe we have proven that we can successfully hold a Christmas Party and bring the Concordant bodies together. Our next event for the families is the Mothers’ Day Breakfast. Restaurants are always too busy on Mothers’ Day so why not come to Lodge where you can sit with friendly people and enjoy an inexpensive but slap up breakfast. We have usually served breakfast from 8:30 to 12:30 and last year Harmony, just on its own, served over 55 breakfasts. I would like to get that number to over 200 in 2008.

See you all next Christmas. If there are any of you out there with nowhere to go on Christmas Day you are welcome at our house.

Rich Lathrope
rich dot lathrope at gmail dot com