Blue & Gold Banquet

Experts recommend planning something exciting in January or February. Who could be mired in post-Christmas letdown when you can look forward to events like the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet. More specifically you can look forward to spending 3 weeks doing art projects with 8- and 9-year-old boys, decorating the church gym all Saturday, helping your son decorate a cake for the contest, and roasting 10 pounds of potatoes for the evening's medieval-style (eat with your hands) roast chicken feast.

Do the post-holiday blues sound better yet?

Actually, we did have a fantastic trip to Northern California for Marianne's wedding, which was the true solution to the January blahs, but I haven't sifted through those pictures yet.

After explaining to Carden that we would not be using any of the great ideas he saw on old episodes of "Cake Boss," he chose a dragon cake more suited to our abilities. By breaking up the project into two days and three sessions, we survived working with each other. Sadly, I really don't enjoy cooking with my kids. I wish I did, but it's hard to get past the huge messes and Claire screaming to be part of the action.

I wish I'd taken pictures of the gym, since we really outdid ourselves. The scouts all painted about 50 banners and we hung them on fishing line strung across the gym. With tissue-paper torches lining the walls and an enormous castle backdrop made from the boxes that king-size bedroom sets come in, the room was pretty striking. My kids really got into the silverware-free dining experience (sadly they think most of our normal dinners are silverware-optional). Charlotte attacked the chicken carcass and balance-beam jousting activity with equal ferocity. Truly a night celebrating those lofty Scouting values.