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Mayor Arlen Thompson sipped his steaming hot chocolate as he surveyed the families gathered for Miracle on Metcalf: Candy Cane Lane on Saturday evening in the City Lake shelterhouse.
 “This is better than the mayor’s Christmas tree lighting,” Thompson said of the former downtown Christmas event replaced by the inaugural lake celebration. “This turned out great.”
Clutching parents’ hands, eager children waited in line to whisper their Christmas wishes to Santa Claus.
Samantha Hickey, 4, planned to ask Ole St. Nick for a camera, while her siblings, 2 1/2-year-old twins Brady and Rylee, hoped to find a Tonka truck and a Tinker Bell doll under the tree on Christmas morning.
“This is fabulous,” the children’s mom, Brandi Hickey, said of the holiday celebration. “I think this was a really great idea.”
Just a few tables away, Hanna Knop munched on a cookie covered in red and green sprinkles, trying to keep the Grinch from taking her apple.
Hanna, 4, just finished telling Santa her simple Christmas wish: a SpongeBob kite.
“My Dora kite broke,” Hanna said, sure Santa will bring her request because she’s been a good girl this year.
Parents sitting around picnic tables voiced appreciation for the first-time event, put on by the Louisburg Rotary Club, with assistance from other local organizations, churches, city staff and lake residents.
“I think everything went really well,” said organizer Sue Knop. “We were pleased with the turnout.”
Knop said she estimated between 700 and 800 parents, children and family members attended the inaugural event, thanks to the help of Louisburg organizations and businesses who donated food and time.
Heaters and a plastic screen to block the wind kept the new shelterhouse toasty throughout the evening, as residents flocked to the lake to enjoy the festivities, which included a manger scene complete with costumed actors and animals.
The brisk wind and cool temperatures kept some hovering near the shelterhouse, but for others, it was a sign Christmas is near.
“You’ve got to have the cold to make it feel right,” said Margaret Martin as Melia Martin, 8, and Nigel Johnson, 6, marveled at the goat in the manger scene. “I think this is awesome.”
Dozens of luminaries lined the lake path for residents who went for an evening stroll to marvel at Christmas lights adorning lakefront homes. Familiar Christmas songs drifted across the waterfront as a group of lake subdivision children, ranging from fourth grade to high school, sang Christmas carols to passersby on the northeast side of the lake.
Later, a group of Louisburg High School musicians, led by band director John Cisetti, belted melodious holiday tunes on their tubas for an appreciative crowd of onlookers hunkered in the shelterhouse.
Lake resident Charlene Wise warmed her hands above a fire pit as she surveyed the luminaries stretched across the dam on the south side of the lake.
“I think the view from the dam is one of the most beautiful views at the lake.”
Wise stood next to a table topped with trays of marshmallows for visitors walking along the path. A family stopped to sample the confections.
Wise returned their smiles. “Merry Christmas.”
By the end of the evening, the 485 hot dogs and 400 goodie bags for children were gone, and the decorations were taken down the next morning, Knop said.
“The Rotary and myself cannot thank everybody enough that donated,” Knop said, indicating the group is already planning a bigger and better celebration next year.
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