Winter Wonderland

Elementary students in the Brownsville Independent School District have a treat in store for them when they return from Thanksgiving vacation next week - "Santa & Friends: Live and in Concert."

Actually, everyone is invited to the annual holiday show in the auditorium of BISD's Central Administration Building at 708 Palm Blvd.

Performances are scheduled Dec. 4 and 5, three each day for elementary students, along with a public performance at 7 each evening. Admission is free, but donations to the Superintendent's Holiday Toy Drive are welcomed.

Each of BISD's 33 elementary schools is bringing one grade-level of students (principal's choice,) so there are some logistics involved. In all, some 4,387 students are coming, said Rebecca Rendon, the district's fine arts administrator.

This is the third renewal of "Santa and Friends" and Rendon said she has been surprised at how fast the idea has caught on.

"The younger kids just love it, and the high school students get such a kick out of it," Remdon said. "It's gotten so that when they see me, they'll ask, ‘when is it our turn to do ‘Santa & Friends?' It has turned into something I didn't expect it to be."

This year is Porter High School's year to be the core school, meaning its students get to do most of the work on the production. The project passes from one high school to another each year. Also, students from the Brownsville Learning Academy alternative high school are helping since their campus is part of the same Central Administration Building complex.

Students have been decorating the auditorium and practicing their performances for the past two weeks.

"When you walk into the auditorium, it feels like a ‘winter wonderland,' " which is the theme of this year's production," Rendon said.

In addition to Santa's traditional friends - Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Mrs. Claus, the elves and others - the show includes modern-day characters like Shrek III and Alvin of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

"That's where the kids just go wild," Rendon said.