Hurley students celebrate La Festival de Navidad

By TOM STANKARD

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Hurley - In the spirit of the holidays, Hurley K-12 Spanish classes hosted the annual La Festival de Navidad on Monday.

Throughout the day, elementary school children exited the classrooms to eat Latin American cuisine, make crafts and play games in the gymnasium.

This year, Spanish teacher Natalie Patritto said there were more booths than ever.

In keeping with the theme, high school students made food or hosted an activity representing a country of their choosing in Latin America.

At one food stand, Jacob Saari and Aiyana Nickel made fried ice cream representing Peru. Nickel said fried ice cream is a "tasty" desert containing eggs, cornflakes and, of course, ice cream.

While making food or hosting an activity, high school students taught children facts about their country. One sign on the wall said Mexico City is the capital of Mexico.

When not eating, children could play games. There was musical chairs, a limbo contest and several other fun activities.

Over in the library, children told Santa Claus what they wanted for Christmas. When they were done, elves gave each child a candy cane.

Meanwhile, elementary school students sang in a holiday Christmas concert to set the holiday mood. The auditorium was filled with sounds of Christmas music for the large audience's listening pleasure.