tommy and the chocolate factory

Yesterday we hosted Tommy's eagerly awaited fifth birthday party at our local candy factory. Many children Tommy's age have seen and enjoy the movie about Charlie and his chocolate factory. Not Tommy. He finds that little girl who turns into a blueberry to be only slightly less disturbing than the kid who is sucked up the chocolate pipe. He wants nothing to do with any of it. However, when I mentioned, on the suggestion of a friend, that we host his party at a chocolate factory and I promised he would be dipping things in chocolate, that he would then be allowed to take home and when I promised that there were no chocolate pipes or people turning into blueberries he readily assented to the plan. We, as always, came screeching in exactly on time to be greeted by the children of my friends who are calm, cool collected and always, and I mean always, five minutes early. How I long to be like them, but that's another post. Anyhoo, the children were each presented with rice crispy treats cut into fun shapes and mounted on sticks, They then dipped those babies in chocolate, then they used pastry bags to squirt layer upon layer of colored chocolate on top of that. Yummy. We ate cake, we opened presents (every one of which Tommy declared to be exactly what he's "always wanted!"), We sent everyone home with their chocolate creations. Their mommies were, of course, delighted with their obvious candy making talents. I was delighted to see them leaving, grinning and with sticky fingers, 'cause if that isn't childhood, I don't know what is.