A quarter of the Parryville Borough population bundled up Saturday afternoon to decorate the first community Christmas tree on Center Street.

Residents greeted each other with warm hellos and hugs while enjoying hot coffee, chocolate, funnel cake and homemade cookiesat the afternoon event. Holiday music was played while personalized ornaments were hung on the donated spruce covered in multicolored twinkle lights.Mr. Claus arrived by firetruck bringing candy for all the boys and girls."I think the kids of Parryville were very good this year and they are going to get what they asked for," he said.According to Santa the most asked for toy of the season is the classic children's building blocks, Legos."One boy asked to spend more quality time with his family."Kathy Hawk, borough council president, and councilwoman Sharon Hinkle went door to door in the town leading up to the illumination to speak with residents about the community event."There are about 500 people living in the borough. We went house to house last weekend to hand out invites," Hawk said."We got to talk to each person and see how their families are. We got to spend time one on one with the residents. It's a blessing to see all the people here."Hinkle agreed, "I didn't think we would get so many people. It's great to see."The crowd gathered close together to sing a round of "Jingle Bells" before the tree was lit.Hawk addressed those in attendance and passed the credit for the idea to newest councilman Kevin Greenzweig."This was his idea," she said. "He was the mastermind of all of this."Jamie Freeby, a volunteer borough firefighter for 15 years, manned the funnel cake cart handing out free beverages and more than 25 hot sugared cakes to the group."It's more than I expected," he said. "There are a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time here. This really brought the small town together."