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Creating gifts together

At Christ Lutheran School, a highlight of the Christmas season is Grandparents’ Workshop Day.

On that day, grandparents spend the school day with their grandchildren, making Christmas crafts, which may be given as gifts.

“For more than 20 years, we’ve been doing this,” said Grace Dobberstein, a teacher at the school in West Bloomfield.

Earlier this month, the tradition continued.

“I remember being so excited about the day coming, because I got to spend the day with my grandparents,” said Aimee Lund, who attended Christ Lutheran School and now has two children attending the school.

This year, she watched as her parents, Stan and Pattie Boelter, and her mother-in-law, Diane Lund, worked with her two children, 7-year-old Davianna and 4-year-old Darrian.

“It brings back so many memories,” Lund said.

Her father and grandfather also went to Christ Lutheran School, and Lund’s father remembers when his own father spent the day at Grandparent’s Workshop Day.

“This is our third year doing it,” said Stan Boelter, who took the day off from work to be with his grandchildren.

His wife was once the school’s secretary, and she enjoyed watching all the families.

“It’s just a really nice day to gather with families,” she said. “It’s a tradition.”

Chantel Mundschau was among the parents who organized the day.

“I did it when I was a little kid. My oldest is in high school. I’ve been involved since he was younger,” she said.

Mundschau searched for craft projects which would be easy for the students to mimic.

At this year’s Grandparent’s Workshop Day, the projects included cookies, a soup mix, ornaments, earrings and a sand art jar.

“Within the last few years, we added talent to fill in the time between projects,” she said. “The kids always wanted to show their grandparents what they can do.”

For six-year-old Meadow Masaros, playing the piano and singing for her grandparents were two things she liked about the day.

“Making cookies was my favorite part,” she said. “I ate mine already.”

Grandparent’s Workshop Day also included a community project.

This year, five blankets were made and then donated to the Christine Ann Center, in Oshkosh.

Each of the school’s 29 students worked with someone on the many craft projects.

“If a grandpa or a grandma can’t come, then an aunt or an uncle or a friend does,” Dobberstein said. “For kids who don’t have a grandparent or special friend, we find substitute grandparents for them. Members of the congregation volunteer to do so.”

Some grandparents spent the entire day with their grandchildren, while others joined their grandchildren for part of the day.

“Watching all the people we had kids with now coming and spending time with their grandkids is a lot of fun,” Pattie Boelter said.

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