With smiles, cookies and glitter all within proximity of each other, Calvary Lutheran Church opened its doors to families with its first Christmas For Kids on Saturday.
“It’s our first year putting it on,” said Kevin Callahan, congregation president. “It’s an outreach tool to, first of all, give parents a break, let them get some shopping done and drop off their kids.”
Over a dozen children took part in the various activities the church made available at the free event. Beginning with an opening devotion, children sang Christmas songs together before decorating cookies and making paper stars about Jesus. The children also played games, including freeze tag outside the church.
Callahan added that the kids also played a game of “Nativity bingo,” with a a board peppered with images of people, symbols and words affiliated with the Nativity. Children used M&M’s as markers. Anybody to first call “bingo” won a prize.
“But in the end, they all get a small prize,” Callahan said.
Pastor Sean DeFrain said the plan was to continue with similar events like this in the months to come. Callahan added that a similar event is planned for Easter.
“It’s definitely on our mind,” Callahan said. “We’re thinking on how we can improve on things that the kids liked, where we could focus our attention more, where improvements are needed.”
Erin Mathieus, a helper whose son Clay worked on a star, smiled as she looked towards all of the children putting effort into their craftwork.
“It’s fun,” she said. “The kids have been really excited, mostly because they ate a lot of frosting. But they’ve been having fun. We’re keeping them moving from station to station so they always have something different to do.”
Calvary Lutheran will hold services on Christmas Eve starting at 7:30 p.m. and a Christmas Day service beginning at 10 a.m.
