EAST STROUDSBURG -- Some student athletes helped make the Christmas holiday a bit brighter for a group of children Thursday.
Athletes from East Stroudsburg University helped students at Head Start in East Stroudsburg get in the Christmas spirit.
Some little faces are all aglow as they listened to one of their special guests of the day: Santa Claus.
Another batch of special guests are athletes at East Stroudsburg University. These Santa's helpers are spending the morning with kids helping them get in the Christmas spirit while creating memories
Robert Bleiler is a football player at East Stroudsburg University. This is the first time he's had the opportunity to volunteer before Christmas at Head Start. He was assigned to help a group of aspiring artists make Christmas gifts.
"I didn't know how to do it, but he just showed me,” said Kaylee Bustamante.
Luckily for Kaylee, Robert was by her side the entire time, helping her with the arts and crafts projects which included foam snowflakes and lots of glue.
"We're making Christmas ornaments and picture frames for them to give out as presents,” Robert explained.
Another highlight of the day was face painting which those student athletes’ art skills to the test.
"It's fun. A little girl asked for a red Christmas tree. I've never seen a red Christmas tree before,” said ESU senior Nicole Miller.
Nicole is a senior lacrosse player. She traded in her lacrosse stick for a paint brush and took all types of requests from the children. While not all requests were unique, some were more common.
"A snowflake," said Mackenzie Miller.
Mackenzie enjoyed having the "big kids” around and took a liking to Robert who is studying to be a math teacher.
“(I want) a Barbie house with dolls in it,” Mackenzie said.
“My sisters would love that,” Robert replies.