Winter Wonderland 2014

The floor of the Crossroads Arena is transformed every year into a Winter Wonderland of Christmas trees and décor, a gesture of appreciation from Magnolia Regional Health Center to the community.
They hold a silent auction of decorated Christmas trees, Christmas wreaths and various holiday decorations. All proceeds benefit the Magnolia Foundation. The hospital puts this event on for the community for free. The only thing asked of the community is that people attending bring a nonperishable food donation for the AMEN Food Pantry.
About 50 volunteers, including hospital staff, families and children from the community, help with preparing and presenting the special event.
Activities for children include free pictures with Santa, play time, mailing letters to Santa and enjoying a variety of snacks and treats. There is also a small train that children ride through the wintry scenes built by hospital maintenance staff.
There were at least 17 decorated trees, as well as 17 wreaths for the silent auction. The center of the arena was the main attraction, to me. There were lights strung from the floor to the rafters, highlighting the decorated trees and a fireplace with stockings for family to take beautiful pictures for their Christmas cards and just personal family moments.
The smell of (complimentary) popcorn had wafted up to the main entrance and hit your nostrils pretty hard when you walk in. I eventually made my way to the poppers and got a half bag of fresh popped popcorn. So fresh I received the first kernels from a new batch I watched pop. I made small talk with the lady bagging the popcorn and she was so friendly and happy.
I walked next door to Mrs. Claus’ sweet shop and snagged a sugar cookie and a free Coke. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, kids running amok but with some restraint on their rudeness. There were bouncy houses and slides for the children to burn off the free cookies and Coke.
Rudolph the movie played while young children sat on hay bales to watch it in the barn.
A heads up for anyone looking to attend the 2015 Winter Wonderland, the line to Santa was long and constant. You might want to run the children through the bouncy houses so they will be tired and stand still while waiting in line for Santa.