What a welcoming community event put on by Katrina Mondragon at the Cedar Creek Lake Library. What started out as a seemingly simple event, seemed to be revamped from the prior 2011's "Drop and Shop" event, despite the fact that it was only advertised locally on their billboard, as well as known to those who frequent the library.
The library, who just celebrated its 17 year anniversary, in the well known location that is near the Seven Points Post office, in the North-West side of Cedar Creek Lake, did a fantastic job of engaging every one of the children that participated in today's "Drop and Shop" in a wide variety of kid friendly activities.
For the three hours between 10 am and 1 pm, parents had the ability to drop their kiddos off to get some last minute Christmas shopping in. Some parents like Shawna Daily and Anna Lujan, even decided to stay and participate in the festivities with smiles on their faces and ready to help at any moment.
The schedule was jam packed full of exciting holiday crafts, santa look-a-like snacks, light up Christmas cards, Christmas carols, playing games and a contest to see who could "wrap" a kid for Christmas the best.
When the community comes together, like today, with the many moms, grandmother's and volunteers that helped, like Madeline Maldonado, a college student who helped each of the three groups with the tasty treats, our children are better for it.
The love that went into planning this "Drop and Shop" event, can be seen in the excitement in each one of the 30 plus kiddos faces, during each craft, each game and it seemed that all the children were eager to do more and more.
A breath of fresh air these days, when Libraries have started to seem "out of date" to some.
It is exciting to see kids involved with books, which were also given out as a parting gift, along with a bag of goodies and two gifts that were won in a game of "who can open the present first," while wearing a santa hat and cooking mitts. It was harder then it sounds, by far, but those kids tried their hardest!
After watching my own children participating in today, I look forward to seeing all the events put on by the Cedar Creek Lake Library in the future. Especially after hearing the ladies talk so highly of Katrina Mondragon, who just started at the library in August and how well she has brought life to the youth in our community.
