The holiday season has officially kicked off with the arrival of Santa and Christmas tree lightings around the county. Even though a snowflake has yet to fall, Jim Thorpe's Community Watch held a Winter in the Park event Saturday night at the Memorial Hall Skating Rink.

More than 20 children with their families came together to enjoy homemade cookies and hot chocolate while making glittery pine cones and reindeer food in anticipation of Santa's arrival.The evening was completely donated to the group including the use of the hall, the Christmas tree from Foothill Farms and coloring books for the kids to take home."It's just a fun thing for kids to do for Christmas. Not all the kids get to go see Santa," event organizer Tammy Lombardo-Schatz said. "It's a lot of the same kids from last year."A chair and candy canes were placed next to the tree that was decorated with ornaments made by the children who attend last year's event. The chair was for Santa, of course, played by Penn-Kidder Sgt. Neil Yurchak."He loves doing it," Lombardo-Schatz said.The children wrote wish-list letters during the event to be handed to the big man in person. Landon Kline's list included walkie-talkies."I love when small towns do stuff like this. It really makes it feel like Christmas," his mother Alicia said.This is the second year for the event.Jamie Solomon of the Community Watch said, "Every year the event gets bigger. We just need to get the word out about things like this."