Earlier this month, I lamented the fact I will not be able to join the crew at Northeast Ballet for the company’s annual Christmas party at Proctors.

“The Nutcracker” will take place this weekend — Saturday and Sunday — while I’m home in Rochester running our family’s annual Christmas party. I buy deli platters, set up tables and chairs and play Santa Claus for the family’s younger members. It’s our only reunion of the year, about 60 people expected.

I will miss playing “Mother Ginger,” the travesty character who makes a three-minute appearance in the ballet’s second act. For the past 12 years, I have rolled on stage in heavy makeup, heavy chest, heavy top hat and flowing layers of magenta and silver. “Striking,” as Bill Murray once described the Dalai Lama in “Caddyshack.” The kids are the stars, tumbling out of Mom’s skirt and dancing around the stage.

I did get a taste of ginger this past weekend. And in a small way, kept my streak intact.

Here’s how it happened. I’ve been writing a story about the enduring popularity of candy canes during the Christmas season. Many thanks to Farley’s and Sathers candy company in Minnesota, which shipped 51 pounds worth of their Bob’s, Brach’s and Trolli brand canes to the old Gazette for photo purposes. A lot of the candy will soon be on the shelves of the Schenectady Inner City Ministry food pantry.

While I talked to the company about popular flavors, and checked in with local candy makers and sellers, I really needed a kid perspective. I figured, what better kids to talk to about candy canes than the kids who play the little “candies,” the gingerbreads and ginger snaps who are part of the Mother Ginger routine.

I secured permission from the professor, Northeast director Darlene Myers, and showed up to the ballet’s headquarters on State Street near the end of the “Ginger” rehearsal Saturday morning. I talked to some of the older girls about their appreciation for candy canes and handed out bunches of samples.

Rehearsal assistant Amanda Zenner was winding up the hour, about to take one of her casts through one more Ginger session. From the top, as they say in show biz.

Bruce Williams of New Hampshire, who is taking over the role of Mother this year, could not make the rehearsal. So I volunteered to help Amanda and the kids — the young girl manning the skirt scooted out of the rolling maternal arsenal — and I slipped back into character for just three minutes.

I still know the spins, arm moves and facial expressions. The bit came off without a hitch and the kids and I picked up a small round of applause for our efforts. I got to meet the girls and boys in this year’s show, and even posed for a picture with cute 5-year-old Sofia Blitz, who I believe is one of Northeast’s stars of the future. You can see it by clicking HERE.

I’ve even “met” Bruce Williams, George Lazenby to my Sean Connery as far as Mother Ginger is concerned. Just kidding, Bruce.

Actually, I’ve only met my replacement in photos. Click HERE to see Bruce as he will look this weekend at Proctors.

Bruce’s make-up seems a little more outrageous than my more recent facials ... but I have had my moments. When Northeast allowed me to apply my own red and white designs in the early 2000s, I sometimes looked like a raccoon that had been hit by a car by the end of the show. Alan Yerdon of Johnstown fixed that, creating a more photogenic face in recent years.

Click HERE to see that face, in a photo taken by the great Joe Mulone from the great Joe Mulone Photography. Thanks again, Joe.

I guess the only thing I can do now is wish all the Northeast dancers a bunch of luck for the weekend shows while I pack up my Santa Claus outfit. And I know Bruce Williams is going to have a blast in my “skirt,” playing my part with all those cute kids. Watch your timing on those waves to Clara on the throne during the full spins, Bruce. And remind the kids they really have to step quickly under the skirt when our music starts ... we have to reach our mark at center stage in about 15 seconds.

And above all, Bruce — break a leg!

Yeah, it’s a joke. We Mother Gingers must have senses of humor!