As December rolls around, the Culver City Elks gear up for their annual Christmas Party held for the children of our community, this year headed up by Christine Tigner.

Saturday, December 8th, local kids were invited into the lodge to enjoy hotdogs and snacks, create various craft items and to take selfies with the jolly red-clad man himself, Santa Claus.

Santa made a big splash at the Culver City Elks Christmas Party

The crafts this year included making googly-eyed snowman, making reindeer out of chocolate bars, and decorating ornaments the kids could hang on their tree.

Elks Sylvia Esparza and Ellen Whiteside guide kids through using pipe cleaners to make reindeer.

Who can resist those red fuzzy noses??

Decorating Christmas tree ornaments

The kids received a lot of help from their parents, who seemed to enjoy the crafts almost as much as the children did.

Everyone got a paper "swag bag" they could make their own with stickers, crayons, and markers. These bags were used to tote the other loot they decorated or created.

Googly eyes were also used to make snowmen out of corks.

Another popular craft was making a bird feeder out of toilet paper rolls.

Elk of the Year, Toni Ferrara, instructs Jesse Diaz on the proper way to smear peanut butter.

First apply the peanut butter.  Then, apply the bird seed.  When dry, hang in tree.

First you have to slather peanut butter over every inch of the roll, then you cover that up with mountains of bird seed. Once it dries you can hang it outside and watch as the neighborhood birds enjoy the treat you provided.

20 volunteers wrapped over 250 presents in less than two hours.  Might be a record.

Each year the Culver City Elks donate their time and money to buy and wrap gifts for this event. Each year the volunteers all leave with smiles and laughter. We have memories to tide us over until December of 2019.

It's safe to say we all had a good time.

There were over a dozen Elk volunteers that made this a wonderful experience.  We do have to single out a few members that went above and beyond.  They include Genny Santiesteban for her organizational talents.  Aida Preciado whose balloons and decorations made the lodge extremely Christmas-y, and Toni Ferrara for once again stepping up and making the crafts experience a joy. 

And, finally, a big thanks to David and Carol Gusman who are personal friends with Santa and invited him and Mrs. Claus to our get together.

Photos by Caspar De Jong and Ted Wolfe

To get involved with the Elks, visit this site: www.elks.org