Christmas came to Clearwater a couple weekends ago, with the city celebrating several holiday events to kick off the holiday season.

Over at the Clearwater American Legion, kids gathered for the Legion Auxiliary’s annual Children’s Christmas Party. Along with numerous holiday crafts for them to create and cookies to decorate and eat, the kids were able to meet Santa Claus and share with him what they wanted for Christmas.

The area’s annual Toys for Tots event was also being celebrated, with Clearwater area businesses, organizations, and volunteers outside in front of their buildings to entice people to stop by with new toys and monetary donations for the worthy organization. 

By late in the afternoon, several boxes had been filled with gifts for area children and teenagers and money had been donated to purchase more.

On Sunday, the annual Christmas Central took place over at the Clearwater Legion in conjunction with the Legion’s made-to-order breakfast. As always, Christmas Central was full of a wide variety of local vendors, many with handmade items. People chatted and shopped for gifts throughout the event.

Sunday evening the Clearwater Fire Dept. welcomed special guest Santa Claus as they rode down the city streets spreading holiday cheer and collecting food donations to support families in need this season. Thanks to the generosity of residents, they were able to collect $130 in cash donations, toys, and 836 lbs. of food for the Clearwater-Clear Lake Area Food Shelf.

All participating businesses and organizations sent out a thank you to everyone who donated, participated, and helped to create some holiday magic this holiday season.