By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
Evening with Santa – Val Verde County will host its annual “Evening With Santa and Friends” at the Val Verde County
Courthouse, 400 Pecan St., on Friday, Dec. 20, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Youngsters attending the event will have the chance to take a photo with Santa, the Grinch and with several holiday-themed displays on the courthouse lawn. Santa will be handing out goodie bags for the children attending, and there will be cookies and hot chocolate, officials said.
There will also be food vendors such as Tacos el Primo, Pacos Sack Truck, Limonitos and more.
Cookie Crawl – The Del Rio Downtown Association, a non-
profit organization, will host its seventh annual Cookie Crawl and Business Showcase on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Whitehead Memorial Museum on 1308 S. Main St.
The Cookie Crawl is free to the public and will have 20 businesses participating in the event.
Alexandra Falcon Calderon, chairperson of the Del Rio Downtown Association, said the businesses participating have to bring cookies to exchange with the guests attending.
Calderon said the Cookie Crawl is another outlet to showcase businesses while also having a holiday-day event to bring people together in the downtown area.
Posada, Tamalada, Bailes y Cantos – The Casa de la Cultura, located at 302 Cantu St., will have its annual holiday celebration
event on Sat. Dec. 14, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Lupita De La Paz, executive director of the Casa de la Cultura, said the first part of the event is a traditional “posada,” which involves members of the Casa going to their neighbors’ doors as a reenactment of Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem from the Bible.
The majority of the event involves performances by students from the Casa’s guitar and dance classes. Additional performances will be given by the Matlachines Danza del Tepeyac and Los Nuevo Luceros Del Bravo.
Santa Claus will also be present, and food and drinks will be provided for those who attend. De La Paz said they have been making tamales all week for Saturday’s event.
USPS Operation Santa – The United States Postal Service is having its nationwide holiday activity inviting citizens 
to send gifts to children and families across the nation.
Online users can adopt letters from one individual or an entire family, which can be viewed on the USPS’ official website. People can read the letters written by individuals across the U.S., purchase the gift the individual asked for in their letter, and mail out the presents at their local post office, which will then be sent to the family’s address.
The deadline to send gifts is on Monday, Dec. 16, and Del Rio’s USPS is located at 114 E Broadway St. Online users can find the Operation Santa main page on https://www.uspsoperationsanta.com
