Newtown Community Center and Ben’s Lighthouse collaborated for a holiday event last week, when guests decorated sugar cookies and enjoyed holiday music less than a week before Christmas.

One of the large meeting rooms of the community center was used for the 60-minute event, presented on December 19. Approximately 50 people of all ages filled the room, which itself was filled with late afternoon sunshine through its large southeastern-facing windows.

The event was part of the center’s Calendar of Kindness. According to NCC Director Matt Arieniello, the calendar “was a month full of initiatives giving back to the community.”

Guests were initially greeted with plain sugar cookies and decorations ranging from colored frostings to candies of varying sizes, which quickly combined to become edible works of art. The cookies, according to Community Center Program Coordinator Jennifer Cebry, were made by community center staff members.

Siblings, cousins, parents, grandparents and friends all seemed to be enjoying themselves Thursday afternoon. Conversation filled the air, along with laughter and then music.

Francine Wheeler was wearing two hats that afternoon, she told those gathered. Ms Wheeler is both a founder of Ben’s Lighthouse and a music educator. She had invited some of her students, she said, to provide entertainment during the afternoon event.

For nearly 40 minutes last Thursday afternoon, attendees were treated to young students singing holiday songs. Many sang while Ms Wheeler performed on the keyboard, and some performed their own accompaniment.

In addition to the December 20 event, NCC's Calendar of Kindness also included Lunches For Love to benefit The Dorothy Day Hospitality House, bird seed wreaths with The Catherine Violet Hubbard Animal Sanctuary, according to Mr Ariniello. The center also hosted a giving tree to benefit The Newtown Fund and Newtown Social Services, he said.