Thursday is the last day of classes before the district’s winter break but the holidays got off to a head start with an annual event at Capitol View Wednesday morning.

Three community sponsors saw to it that all 600+ students at the school, from PreK through 5th grade, received something to wear, something to read and something to eat. Not exactly gold, frankincense and myrrh, but the new hoodies, books and cookies were grounds for enough excitement to drown out the holiday music that was playing in the gym where the distribution happened, one grade level at a time.

“This is my first year coordinating the project, but it’s Capitol View’s 24th year hosting it,” said Stacey Robles who, along with her fellow Community School Coordinator Shelby Peters, figured out the logistics of the event, like sizes and titles. “This year we worked with the Iowa Economic Development Authority, Federal Home Loan Bank and Executive Women International of Des Moines.”

Each grade got a different colored sweatshirt emblazoned with its year of high school graduation. K-2 book selections included some Pete the Cat inventory, apropos of the recent visit to the school by their author, Eric Litwin. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series was popular with grades 3-5.

Boxes overstuffed with sweats and treats slowly emptied and were stacked in the corner as the classrooms processed through and got their holiday game faces on.

‘Tis the season!